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The record label representing Brit Award-winning artist Jorja Smith has declared its desire to claim a share of royalties from a track it claims was produced using an artificial intelligence "replica" of the singer's unique voice.

The song, titled 'I Run' by UK dance act Haven, achieved widespread traction on TikTok in October, partly due to its smooth soul vocals by an unnamed woman vocalist.

Although its success and potential top 40 entry in both UK and US, the song was later removed by leading streaming platforms after music organizations issued takedown requests, alleging it breached copyright by imitating another musician.

Even though 'I Run' has since been re-released with completely new singing, Smith's label, FAMM, maintains it is convinced the initial recording was made with AI programmed on her body of recordings and is now pursuing appropriate redress.

A Larger Issue at Stake

"This is not only about one artist. It's bigger than one artist or one song," the label stated in a recent announcement.

FAMM further stated its belief that "both iterations of the track violate the artist's rights and unfairly take advantage of the creative output of all the songwriters with whom she works."

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

Suggesting that her fans were potentially deceived by Haven's original release, the label added: "Our industry must not allow this to be the standard practice."

Producers Admit Using AI Tools

The team behind the song have openly admitted utilizing AI during its creation.

Songwriter Harrison Walker explained that the original voice were in fact his own but were extensively altered using AI music platform Suno, sometimes referred to as the "advanced tool for music".

In addition, the other member, Waypoint, whose real name is Jacob Donaghue, confirmed on social media that AI was used to "give our starting vocal a female tone".

Donaghue and Walker maintain that they composed and produced the music themselves and have even shared files of their original computer files.

"It is no secret that I used AI-powered vocal processing to transform exclusively my voice for 'I Run'," Walker elaborated.

"Being a songwriter and maker, I like using innovative technologies, techniques and staying on the forefront of industry trends," he added.

"To set the record straight, the artists behind HAVEN are real and human, and all we want to do is make great music for other humans."

Regulatory Gray Areas and Industry Impact

Although their original version of 'I Run' was suspended from major charts, the replacement recording did break into the UK Top 40 last week.

FAMM has positioned the incident as a significant precedent for the music industry's evolving relationship with artificial intelligence.

The label stated it had "a duty to speak up" and "encourage wider discussion", because AI is proliferating at an "alarming rate and substantially exceeding regulation".

"Computer-created material should be clearly labelled as such so that the audience may decide whether they consume it or not," the message continued.

Artists as 'Collateral Damage'

Smith shared her label's statement on her own social media profile.

The post cautioned that musicians and creators were becoming "collateral damage in the competition by governments and corporations towards AI dominance".

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

"If we are able in establishing that AI assisted to write the words and melody in 'I Run' and are granted a share of the song, we would seek to allocate each of Jorja's collaborators with a pro-rata share," it explained.

The Ongoing Growth of Computer-Generated Music

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

• In June, the group Velvet Sundown accumulated vast numbers of streams before revealing they used AI to aid craft their musical style.
• Recently, an AI-generated "performer" called Breaking Rust topped a US genre sales chart, showing that audiences are not always opposed to hearing computer-generated music.
• Suno was last year taken to court for alleged violations by the world's three largest record labels, but those cases have now been settled.

Subsequently, Warner Music entered into a partnership with the firm, which will enable users to create songs using the voices, names, and images of Warner acts who agree to the service.

However, it is uncertain how many established artists will consent to such applications of their work.

Just last week, a group of renowned artists including 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 intellectual property regulations.

They contend these changes would make it simpler for AI companies to develop models using copyrighted work without obtaining a permission.