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The music company representing Brit Award-winning artist Jorja Smith has declared its desire to receive a share of royalties from a song it asserts was created using an AI "clone" of the performer's distinctive vocal style.

The track, titled 'I Run' by British dance act Haven, gained widespread popularity on social media in October, in part due to its smooth soul vocals by an unnamed woman singer.

Despite its momentum and impending chart entry in the UK and US, the track was subsequently banned by leading music services after industry organizations sent copyright notices, stating it breached copyright by impersonating another musician.

Even though 'I Run' has since been reissued with completely new vocals, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it believes the initial recording was generated with AI programmed on her body of work and is now pursuing financial redress.

A Larger Principle at Stake

"This is not only about Jorja. This is larger than a single performer or one song," the label wrote in a recent announcement.

FAMM also stated its belief that "each iterations of the track infringe on the artist's rights and unfairly benefit from the work of all the songwriters with whom she collaborates."

Known for hits like 'Be Honest' and 'Little Things', Smith was named Best British Female at the annual Brit Awards in 2019.

Implying that her supporters were possibly deceived by Haven's original track, the label added: "Our industry cannot allow this to become the new normal."

Creators Acknowledge Using AI Technology

The team behind the track have publicly admitted using AI during its production process.

Producer Harrison Walker explained that the original vocals were actually his own but were extensively altered using AI music platform Suno, sometimes called the "advanced tool for music".

Meanwhile, the second producer, Waypoint, whose real name is Jacob Donaghue, stated on his accounts that AI was used to "give our starting vocal a female tone".

Donaghue and Walker assert that they composed and produced the song themselves and have even provided files of their source computer files.

"This shouldn't be mystery that I used AI-assisted vocal processing to convert solely my voice for 'I Run'," Walker elaborated.

"Being a songwriter and producer, I enjoy experimenting with new tools, techniques and remaining on the forefront of what's happening," he continued.

"In order to set the facts clear, the people behind HAVEN are actual and people, and all we aim to do is make enjoyable music for other humans."

Legal Gray Areas and Industry Implications

While their first release of 'I Run' was suspended from major charts, the replacement version did break into the UK Top 40 last week.

FAMM has framed the incident as a significant precedent for the music industry's evolving relationship with AI.

The label stated it had "an obligation to speak up" and "encourage public discourse", because AI is advancing at an "rapid rate and significantly outpacing legal oversight".

"AI-generated material should be transparently identified as such so that the audience may decide whether they consume it or not," the statement added.

Artists as 'Unintended Victims'

Smith shared her label's statement on her own Instagram profile.

The text warned that artists and songwriters were becoming "collateral damage in the race by policymakers and tech firms towards AI supremacy".

It also noted that the label would distribute any awarded royalties with the collaborators behind Smith's music.

"Should we are successful in establishing that AI assisted to compose the lyrics and melody in 'I Run' and are granted a share of the song, we would seek to allocate every one of Jorja's co-writers with a corresponding share," it explained.

The Ongoing Growth of AI Music

The emergence of AI-generated music has been a source of both interest and anxiety for the entertainment world.

• In the summer, the group Velvet Sundown gathered millions of plays before revealing they used AI to aid develop their sound.
• Recently, an AI-generated "performer" called Breaking Rust led a US genre digital song sales chart, demonstrating that listeners are not always averse to consuming computer-generated music.
• Suno was previously sued for copyright infringement by the world's three biggest record labels, but those cases have now been resolved.

Following this, Warner Music entered into a collaboration with the firm, which will allow users to generate songs using the voices, names, and images of Warner acts who opt in to the program.

However, it is unclear how a large number of well-known artists will agree to such applications of their work.

Just last week, a collective of prominent artists such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush issued a vinyl album containing tracks of silence or audio of empty studios in opposition to proposed revisions to intellectual property regulations.

They argue these amendments would make it easier for AI companies to train systems using protected work without securing a license.