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Spotify CEO Daniel Ek Believes AI Is ‘Huge For Creativity’ But Acklowledges ‘The Scary Part’

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AI recreations of popular musicians’ voices have become a rising trend, with Drake and The Weeknd’s fake “Heart On My Sleeve” song being pulled from streaming platforms, Grimes saying she’s OK with it, and Liam Gallagher calling an Oasis AI album “mega.” Still, Spotify’s CEO, Daniel Ek, offered his thoughts on just what this means for the future of the music industry,

“On the positive side, this could be potentially huge for creativity,” Ek said on a conference call, according to Billboard. “That should lead to more music [which] we think is great culturally, but it also benefits Spotify because the more creators we have on our service the better it is and the more opportunity we have to grow engagement and revenue.”

Earlier this year, the streaming service announced an AI DJ aspect to the app, which develops song recommendations for users based on their listening history and features narration from an AI bot.

“I’m very familiar with the scary part… the complete generative stuff or even the so-called deep fakes that pretend to be someone they’re not,” Ek added during a recent episode of Spotify’s For The Record podcast. “I choose to look at the glass as more half-full than half-empty. I think if it’s done right, these AIs will be incorporated into almost every product suite to enable creativity to be available to many more people around the world.”

Currently, Universal Music Group and the National Music Publishers’ Association are some standing against AI, as the record label released a recent statement to the publication:

“The training of generative AI using our artists’ music (which represents both a breach of our agreements and a violation of copyright law) as well as the availability of infringing content created with generative AI on DSPs, begs the question as to which side of history all stakeholders in the music ecosystem want to be on: the side of artists, fans and human creative expression, or on the side of deep fakes, fraud and denying artists their due compensation. We’re encouraged by the engagement of our platform partners on these issues – as they recognize they need to be part of the solution.”

Khalid Has ‘Mixed Feelings’ About AI-Generated Songs, Which Take Away The ‘Authenticity’ Of Human Artists

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As the debate about the value and utility of AI in music continues, another artist has added his voice to the conversation. Khalid, who most recently released new music last month with “Softest Touch,” was asked about his view of the situation by TMZ. His response was ambivalent; while he sees worth in AI as a tool, he sounds unimpressed by all the AI-generated reproductions of established artists that have been sweeping the internet lately.

“I have mixed feelings about it,” he said. “I feel like AI is definitely going to be a helpful tool and it’s one of those things that you can’t escape. Hopefully, you know, I get to still have my job for a long time… I feel like it takes away the authenticity and that’s something that I really value about myself.” With regard to AI “resurrecting” deceased artists for collaborations with contemporary idols, he said, “I respect all the music for what it is and I think I’m fine. I appreciate the legends as they are.”

As AI has become more commonplace in recent months, much like the popularity of NFTs a couple of years ago, some artists have encouraged its use, while others have floated the idea of using legal measures to curtail AI’s spread. Grimes and Liam Gallagher were some of the notable proponents of the technology, while Universal Music Group issued a sternly-worded statement about AI’s use cutting into artists’ profits — and notably, labels’ profits as well.

Grimes Is Actually Encouraging Use Of Her Voice In AI Songs In Response To The Viral Drake And The Weeknd AI Track

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In recent days, a lot of attention has been paid to AI-generated music, specifically a song that used copies of Drake and The Weeknd’s voices. The track got removed from streaming platforms, but not before Meek Mill listened to it a bunch of times. Grimes, ever one to embrace new technologies, has some thoughts about this and about the use of AI clones of her own voice.

Yesterday (April 23), Grimes took to Twitter to share a screenshot of an article about the Drake/Weeknd AI song. She wrote, “I’ll split 50% royalties on any successful AI generated song that uses my voice. Same deal as I would with any artist i collab with. Feel free to use my voice without penalty. I have no label and no legal bindings.” She added in another tweet, “I think it’s cool to be fused w a machine and I like the idea of open sourcing all art and killing copyright.”

That led to some good follow-up questions. One Twitter user asked, “would the title of such a song credit you as a featured artist, or how would you prefer it?” Grimes replied, “Sure – anything anyone wants. Im just curious what even happens and interested in being a Guinea pig.” Somebody else wondered, “Hey can you pls tell everyone that they need to upload to elf.tech [Grimes’ website] in order to get approval from Media Empire?” She responded, “I feel like we shouldn’t force approvals – but rather work out publishing with stuff that’s super popular. That seems most efficient? We cud use elf tech for it tho – but I think we’ll notice if a grimes song goes viral.”

Grimes also noted that she’s working on AI-ifying her voice herself, tweeting, “We’re making a program that should simulate my voice well but we could also upload stems and samples for ppl to train their own.” Somebody asked about how that endeavor is going and Grimes replied, “we were p far along last I checked. I sorta just spur of the moment decided to do this lol but we were making a sim of my voice for our own plans and they were almost done.”

Finneas seems to be on board with Grimes’ vision: He shared her original post and added, “So lit.”

Meek Mill is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Meek Mill Showed A Ton Of Love For The Viral AI Drake And The Weeknd Song Before Deleting His Tweet

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Earlier this month, “Heart On My Sleeve” circulated social media. It was an AI-generated track that paired Drake with The Weeknd. After going viral on DSPs, Universal Music Group requested it to be taken down. However, many were fooled.

Meek Mill was among the fans streaming the song, and he even praised it on Twitter. “This my 5th time banging this and it’s flame,” he wrote, according to HipHopDX. “We need new music from y’all 2.” The tweet has since been deleted.

UMG gave a statement to Billboard regarding their decision to take down “Heart On My Sleeve.” “The training of generative AI using our artists’ music (which represents both a breach of our agreements and a violation of copyright law),” they said, “as well as the availability of infringing content created with generative AI on DSPs, begs the question as to which side of history all stakeholders in the music ecosystem want to be on: the side of artists, fans and human creative expression, or on the side of deep fakes, fraud and denying artists their due compensation. We’re encouraged by the engagement of our platform partners on these issues – as they recognize they need to be part of the solution.”

Meek Mill is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The Drake & The Weeknd AI-Generated Song Was Removed From DSPs After A Statement From Universal Music Group

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It was fun while it lasted, but it looks like the era of AI-generated reproductions of rappers’ voices online is already facing its end. As I predicted a couple of months ago, it only took the right/wrong artist being unwillingly exploited for profit before the labels stepped in, shutting down some of the more notable tracks.

“Heart On My Sleeve,” one such track that had gone viral after being posted on DSPs, was the subject of a takedown request by Universal Music Group, which had it pulled from streamers. The track garnered attention for pairing the voices of Canadian artists Drake and The Weeknd for a song about The Weeknd’s ex Selena Gomez; it was a reunion of sorts for two artists who were once a dynamic duo but have since seemingly kept each other at arm’s length after a falling out.

Drake, it should be noted, wasn’t laughing when an AI-generated cover of his voice rapping Ice Spice’s “Munch” came to his attention. It’s just one of many fan-created joke tracks, which even include a phony Eminem verse on a David Guetta song.

And while proponents said “Heart On My Sleeve,” created by anonymous TikToker ghostwriter977, sounded just like something the two performers would actually make, detractors derided the song for only doing so on a surface level, throwing in additional criticism for listeners who praised it, calling them nothing short of racist for downplaying the true creativity that goes into hip-hop (you don’t see, for instance, AI-generated pop-punk or country music going viral for sounding “authentic”).

In a statement to Billboard, UMG decried the practice of generative AI copies of artists’ vocals, saying:

The training of generative AI using our artists’ music (which represents both a breach of our agreements and a violation of copyright law) as well as the availability of infringing content created with generative AI on DSPs, begs the question as to which side of history all stakeholders in the music ecosystem want to be on: the side of artists, fans and human creative expression, or on the side of deep fakes, fraud and denying artists their due compensation. We’re encouraged by the engagement of our platform partners on these issues – as they recognize they need to be part of the solution.

And hey, look: The irony of a major label complaining about “denying artists their due compensation” is not lost on me here. (Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.) But they’ve got a point: AI doesn’t just cut out the middleman (in this case, the labels), it also cuts out artists, who don’t get a say in the sort of subjects these fan-generated AI reproductions will ultimately indulge in (it’s only a matter of time until someone turns Kanye’s borderline neo-Nazi rants into a song, sung by an artist like Beyoncé or Rihanna). So, it’s probably best someone steps in sooner rather than later — at least to get some sort of legal framework in place so artists have recourse when they’re inevitably “forced” to “say” something they never said.