Music generated by artificial intelligence (AI) already has a bright future ahead of it. Since the beginning of 2023, over 1.7 billion AI-generated music videos have been viewed on YouTube.
In particular, AI-produced songs mimicking the voices of well-known artists have generated an unprecedented buzz. Last April, a song entitled "Heart on my sleeve", performed by artists Drake and The Weeknd, appeared on several social networks, including Tik Tok. A few days after its appearance, the song was withdrawn from all platforms at the request of record company UMG, and for good reason: artists Drake and The Weeknd had never recorded the track, which had been composed by an AI imitating their voices [1].
A few days ago, a fake cover of Angèle's song "Saiyan" went viral on social networks [2]. The Belgian singer's voice was recreated by an AI to enable her to perform well-known songs.
Once again, an application of artificial intelligence raises complex issues relating to intellectual property. Here, we decipher the legal implications of AI-generated music.
The main consideration is the relationship between copyright and AI-generated music.
On this subject, there's a fundamental point to clarify: while a melody, lyrics or other original elements of a song may be protected by copyright, the human voice alone is not.
Legally, the protection of the voice is a matter of personal rights, in the same way as the right to one's image and to privacy, and also a matter of personal data protection, since the voice is personal data.
In other words, the voice alone of a well-known artist is not protected by copyright but by a personality right. Reproducing the voice of a well-known artist is therefore not an act of counterfeiting, but an invasion of privacy or a violation of the rules applicable to the processing of personal data.
In the specific context of AI-generated songs imitating the voices of well-known artists, the reproduction of melodies, lyrics or other original elements of a song may constitute an infringement of copyright in the original song. This is the case of Angèle, whose voice was imitated in order to perform a well-known song. In this case, the unauthorized use of elements from the song "Saiyan" would certainly be considered by a court as an infringement of the copyright of the person who composed and/or performed the original song.
However, in cases where AI generates original melodies and lyrics and imitates the voice of a famous singer, there is, in theory, no infringement of the copyright of the artist whose voice has been imitated.
The hypothesis described above corresponds to the case of Drake and The Weeknd, whose voices were imitated by an AI, then used to perform an original composition, also generated by an AI. While the videos of the AI-generated duet were promptly removed from social networks under pressure from the two superstars' record company, in a court of law, the record company could only have claimed infringement of the artists' personality rights, not copyright infringement.
The difference between copyright infringement and violation of an artist's personality rights is significant, since in the case of Drake and The Weeknd, the record company would have had to prove that the voices used were in every way similar to those of the two artists, and that they were recognizable.
It's crucial to bear in mind that music-generating AIs need to train on existing, often copyrighted, data in order to generate new content.
As it happens, in the case of Drake and The Weeknd, the AI imitating their voices had first had to train on songs sung by the two artists: this is where an infringement of their copyrights may lie.
Any unauthorized reproduction or use of a work protected by copyright, particularly for commercial purposes, is likely to constitute an infringement punishable by civil and criminal penalties.
While technological advances offer exciting opportunities, they also bring complex challenges for creators, businesses and IP lawyers. In the case of music, understanding the nuances between copyright, personality rights and personal data protection is fundamental to navigating this changing landscape.
[2] How Angèle's fake cover of "Saiyan" went viral.
