The Grammy Awards might actually be interesting this year after the Recording Academy announced that an A.I.-generation song was eligible for a Grammy nomination.
Earlier this year, a mysterious “artist” known as Ghostwriter dropped their A.I.-generated song, “Heart on My Sleeve.” The song sounds like it’s being performed by Drake and The Weekend, so it’s no surprise the song went viral. The song garnered 600,000 plays on Spotify and 275,000 views on YouTube before it was hit with controversy.
A few weeks after its release, Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music and TIDAL all removed the song, citing concerns over the use of A.I. in music creation. Universal Music Group weighed in, denouncing the track and questioning the ethical responsibility of platforms in safeguarding artists’ interests.
But that didn’t stop Harvey Mason, Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, from reaching out on social media. Mason spoke anonymously with Ghostwriter about their music, eventually leading to a larger discussion with the Recording Academy.
“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,” Mason said. “When you start seeing A.I. involved in something so creative and so cool, relevant and of-the-moment, it immediately starts you thinking, ‘OK, where is this going? How is this going to affect creativity? What’s the business implication for monetization?'”
The Recording Academy has since announced A.I. protocols.
“Only human creators are eligible to be submitted for consideration for, nominated for, or win a Grammy Award,” the Academy stated. “A work that contains no human authorship is not eligible in any category. The Academy may disqualify any entry in a particular category if it determines, in its sole discretion, that such entry does not incorporate meaningful and more than de minimis human authorship that is relevant to such category.”
With these protocols in place, Ghostwriter shared last week they had submitted “Heart on My Sleeve” for consideration in both the Best Rap Song and Song of the Year categories.
Mason confirmed that Ghostwriter’s submission was valid, saying, “As far as the creative side, it’s absolutely eligible because it was written by a human.”
