AI Elements in Music Eligible for Grammy Award: CEO

LOS ANGELES –

Last month, the Recording Academy announced a series of changes to the Grammy Awards to better reflect an evolving music industry.

Of those new guidelines, protocols with technological advancements in machine learning made headlines: “Human creators only” could win the music industry’s top honor in a decision aimed at using artificial intelligence in popular music.

“A work that does not contain human authorship does not qualify in any category,” the rules read in part.

As the music industry continues to embrace this new technology, so will the Grammys, says Recording Academy CEO and President Harvey Mason Jr.

Mason tells The Associated Press that “Here’s the super easy headline statement: AI, or music that contains AI-created elements, is absolutely eligible for entry and for consideration for Grammy nomination. Period.”

But he adds, “What’s not going to happen is we’re not going to give a Grammy or Grammy nomination to the AI ​​part.”

He explains that if an AI or voice modeling program performs the lead vocal of a song, for example, the track qualifies for a songwriting category, but not a performance category, because “what is being performed is not a human creation.

But Mason says if a song was sung by a real human in the studio, and they did all the performances, but AI wrote the lyrics or song, the song wouldn’t qualify for a composition or a songwriting category .

The Recording Academy has long considered establishing rules regarding AI after the popularity of new songs co-created with AI technology: David Guetta’s “Emin-AI-em”, the AI ​​compositions of TikTok user @ghostwriter977 , the AI ​​voice modeling software from Grimes.

The new Grammy AI protocols were announced three days after Paul McCartney shared that “the last Beatles record” was composed using artificial intelligence to extract John Lennon’s voice from an old demo.

Without knowing the extent of the technology, Mason couldn’t confirm or deny whether the song would qualify for a Grammy nomination.

The 2024 Grammy Awards will return to Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, February 4, 2024, broadcast live on CBS and streamed live on Paramount+.