Songs created by AI banned from Australia's music charts

Australia's music charts have prohibited songs predominantly or entirely crafted by artificial intelligence.

As of this week, all musical releases must be "substantially human made" to qualify for inclusion in the charts. The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) stated that this new regulation aims to "promote the human nature of artistry."

This decision follows a controversy surrounding Australian DJ Josh Fawaz's cover of Madonna's "Like A Prayer," which recently topped the ARIA dance singles chart and reached number 2 on the overall national chart. The song has become a fixture on commercial radio playlists and has accumulated over 48 million streams on Spotify alone. Fawaz later added generative AI credits to the song after facing criticism.

ARIA emphasized that Australian artists are vying for attention in "the most crowded market in history" and that it is "not interested in promoting or celebrating the success of AI-generated music that does not contain human artistry."

Under the updated guidelines, AI assistance is still permissible, but humans must be responsible for writing the song, performing the lead vocal, and playing the primary instruments. AI can also be utilized for mastering tracks and for applications such as drum machines and auto-tune.

Earlier this year, a song was banned from Sweden's music charts due to its AI creation. In July, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) announced that AI guidelines would be implemented in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia for their official charts.

The revised code, which aligns with the IFPI directive, also excludes music that raises "stream or chart manipulation concerns."

Annabelle Herd, ARIA chief executive, commented, "These changes reflect our intent to remain dynamic and promote the human nature of artistry in what is, to say the least, a rapidly developing space." She added, "Artists already use AI tools in their work, the charts can and should evolve to keep room for that, but music generated wholesale by services built on artists' recordings is a different matter." Herd further stated, "A chart that rewards unlicensed AI output would undercut the very basis of the recorded music we exist to represent."

Artists will be required to declare any AI use when submitting a song for chart consideration. ARIA indicated that if it later emerges that music was largely AI-generated, it could retrospectively adjust chart positions, and if a track topped the charts, it might request the return of awards given for reaching Number One. Artists and their representatives will have the right to challenge their exclusion.

The move has garnered support from artists such as Australian electronic act Peking Duk. Last month, they shared an AI-assisted version of their 2014 hit "High" on Instagram, with the caption: "When you re-record your own song with AI so Australian radio will play it." Band member Adam Hyde told Channel Nine's Today show that AI-generated music was "removing the human experience from life."

In July of last year, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged "the strongest possible protection" from AI for Australian creatives. Albanese promised that writers and musicians would have the choice regarding if and how their work is used in AI training, asserting that it would be "theft" if creatives lost that control and were not compensated for its use.