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The music company representing Brit Award-winning artist Jorja Smith has declared its desire to claim a share of royalties from a song it claims was created using an artificial intelligence "replica" of the singer's distinctive voice.

The song, titled 'I Run' by UK dance act Haven, achieved widespread traction on social media in October, in part due to its smooth soul singing by an unnamed female singer.

Although its success and potential chart position in the UK and US, the track was later banned by major music services after music bodies issued copyright requests, alleging it breached intellectual property law by imitating another artist.

Although 'I Run' has since been reissued with completely new singing, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it believes the original recording was made with AI trained on her extensive work and is now seeking financial compensation.

A Broader Principle at Stake

"The situation is not only about Jorja. It's larger than a single performer or a single track," the label wrote in a recent announcement.

FAMM also expressed its view that "each iterations of the song infringe on the artist's rights and unjustly benefit from the work of all the writers with whom she collaborates."

Famous for hits like 'Be Honest' and 'Little Things', Smith was crowned Best British Female at the prestigious Brit Awards in 2019.

Suggesting that her fans were potentially deceived by Haven's original release, the label concluded: "We cannot permit this to be the new normal."

Producers Acknowledge Employing AI Tools

The duo responsible for the song have publicly confirmed using AI in its creation.

Songwriter Harrison Walker explained that the original voice were actually his own but were heavily manipulated using music-generation platform Suno, often referred to as the "advanced tool for music".

In addition, the second producer, Waypoint, identified as Jacob Donaghue, stated on social media that AI was used to "give our original vocal a feminine quality".

Donaghue and Walker assert that they composed and produced the song themselves and have even provided files of their original production sessions.

"It shouldn't be secret that I used AI-powered vocal processing to convert solely my voice for 'I Run'," Walker elaborated.

"Being a songwriter and producer, I enjoy using new tools, methods and staying on the cutting edge of industry trends," he added.

"In order to set the record clear, the people behind HAVEN are real and people, and all we want to do is make great music for fellow humans."

Regulatory Uncertainty and Broader Impact

Although their original version of 'I Run' was suspended from major charts, the new version did enter the UK Top 40 last week.

FAMM has framed the incident as a critical test case for the music industry's changing relationship with AI.

The label stated it had "an obligation to voice concerns" and "encourage public discourse", because AI is advancing at an "rapid rate and substantially outpacing regulation".

"Computer-created content should be clearly labelled as such so that the public may decide whether they listen to it or not," the message added.

Artists as 'Unintended Damage'

Smith endorsed her label's statement on her personal Instagram profile.

The text cautioned that artists and songwriters were becoming "unintended casualties in the race by governments and tech firms towards AI dominance".

It also stated that the label would share any potential royalties with the writers behind Smith's music.

"If we are able in proving that AI assisted to write the words and melody in 'I Run' and are awarded a share of the song, we would aim to assign each of Jorja's collaborators with a corresponding share," it detailed.

The Continuing Growth of AI Music

The proliferation of algorithmically created music has been a topic of both interest and consternation for the music industry.

• In June, the band Velvet Sundown accumulated millions of plays before disclosing they used AI to aid craft their sound.
• Recently, an AI-generated "performer" known as Breaking Rust led a US country sales chart, demonstrating that listeners are not necessarily averse to consuming AI-made music.
• Suno was previously sued for copyright infringement by the industry's major largest record labels, though those legal actions have now been resolved.

Subsequently, Warner Music entered into a partnership with the firm, which will enable users to generate songs using the vocal likenesses, names, and images of Warner artists who opt in to the program.

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

Just last week, a collective of renowned musicians such as Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, and Kate Bush issued a vinyl album containing tracks of silence or audio of quiet studios in protest to proposed changes to copyright law.

They contend these amendments would make it simpler for AI companies to develop systems using protected work without securing a permission.