Earlier this year the mysterious artist, Ghostwriter, went viral for their artificially generated song “Heart on My Sleeve” which mimics Canadian artists Drake and the Weeknd, is now considered for a Grammy.
The track has been submitted for best rap song of the year and is eligible for a nomination despite the use of AI technology. CEO of the Recording Academy, Harvey Mason Jr., told The New York Times, “As far as the creative side, it’s absolutely eligible because it was written by a human.”
Last year, the hit song was pulled from streaming services after reaching more than 600,000 streams on Spotify and 275,000 views on YouTube. In a statement to Billboard, Universal Music Group denounced the record and the technology of AI by saying the viral postings “demonstrate why platforms have a fundamental legal and ethical responsibility to prevent the use of their services in ways that harm artists.”
After witnessing the song outbreak, Mason reached out to Ghostwriter via social media and organized a virtual roundtable discourse with the Recording Academy to comprehend the strength of artificial intelligence.
“I knew right away as soon as I heard that record that it was going to be something that we had to grapple with from an Academy standpoint, but also from a music community and industry standpoint,” said Mason. “When you start seeing AI involved in something so creative and so cool, relevant and of-the-time-moment, it immediately gets you thinking, ‘OK, where is this going? How is this going to affect creativity? What’s the business implication for monetization?’”
The Recording Academy recently established Artificial intelligence “protocols” to clarify what is eligible moving forward. “Only human creators are eligible to be submitted [and nominated for] a Grammy,” according to the Academy. The guidelines proceed to explain that if a body of work contains “no human authorship,” the entry may be disqualified.
Sydney Wanguhu, (she/her) is from The Bay Area and is an L.A.-based journalist who covers entertainment and culture. Follow her on Instagram: @sydneyy._
Edited by Nykeya Woods