Travis Scott’s voice is heard on a track called “Winter Snow,” where he sings, “I ain’t talking Uber, come take a trip into my mind.” However, it’s not an official recording from the artist himself. The entire song, along with the album, is completely AI-generated.
The album, “UTOP-AI,” imitates Travis Scott’s style with 16 songs featuring vocals from other big-name artists like Drake, Baby Keem, and Playboi Carti.
According to Vice, it was uploaded on YouTube and SoundCloud over the weekend.
However, the album was flagged for copyright infringement by Warner Music Group and was promptly taken down from both platforms.
However, “UTOP-AI” still got about 17,000 plays on YouTube and roughly 150,000 plays on SoundCloud before being removed, Vice reported.
In an email, Qo, a moderator of AI Hub, a Discord server dedicated to AI music producers, explained that the album was initially just a joke between him and another server admin named Rec. The project, which included visuals, took them about a week to complete.
AI Hub, the Discord server, has over 36,000 members and offers several channels with tools that enable users to create voice models based on various established artists, such as Frank Ocean, Don Toliver, or Alicia Keys.
The group’s YouTube channel features some outcomes, including a clip of Kanye West performing a cover of Wu-Tang Clan and The Weeknd performing a rendition of Tame Impala.
Recently, AI-generated music has become a topic of concern due to copyright infringement and royalties issues.
According to Alexander Ross, a seasoned music and copyright attorney, multiple reasons exist for initiating infringement proceedings in such cases.
The music industry’s bigwigs have already raised concerns about AI music and its impact on their intellectual property.
As expected, major labels fiercely protect their copyrighted content and are putting pressure on streaming platforms like Spotify to monitor the content being uploaded to their sites.
Most AI-generated tracks that have gained viral traction are either singles or famous songs reimagined through the perspective of a different artist. For instance, there’s a cover of Beyoncé’s “Cuff It” in the style of Rihanna.
Artists have varying reactions to AI-generated music, with some, like Grimes, embracing the possibilities of creators using their vocals while others, such as Drake, seem annoyed by the notion.
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