AI-generated music barred from Australian charts after Madonna cover controversy

AI-generated music will be excluded from Australia's music ​charts starting this week, the country's peak ​music trade group said, following controversy over ‌an ​Australian DJ's cover of Madonna's "Like a Prayer" topping local music charts. The Australian Recording Industry Association, or ARIA, said on Tuesday that wholly AI-generated ‌tracks would no longer be eligible for its popular ARIA Charts, although recordings that use generative AI in a supporting role would remain eligible.

A recording developed using generative AI will be eligible only if ‌it is "substantially human made" and raises no concerns around streaming or chart manipulation, ARIA said. To distinguish ‌AI-generated recordings from AI-assisted ones, ARIA said it would apply definitions from a labelling standard announced by the global music community in July.

Major global record labels have been seeking new licensing arrangements to protect their vast catalogues as AI-generated music ⁠grows in ​popularity and consumers increasingly ⁠struggle to distinguish it from human-composed songs. "The ARIA charts will always remain a transparent measurement of the music Australia consumes, ⁠but a chart that rewards unlicensed AI output would undercut the very basis of the recorded music we exist ​to represent," ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd said.

ARIA compiles Australia's most popular songs and albums in the ⁠ARIA Charts, which are released on Apple Music and Spotify every Friday. Queensland-based DJ Josh Fawaz's cover of Madonna's 1989 ⁠hit "Like ​a Prayer" became the most-played song on Australian radio and reached No. 4 on two ARIA charts in July. Some producers alleged that generative AI had been used and that it ⁠was not initially disclosed.

Reuters could not immediately contact Fawaz for comment. Responding to a music producer's criticism ⁠on Instagram in June, Fawaz ⁠said that although he used AI "as a tool, it's not that deep", adding he had been releasing music long before AI and his focus was ‌to provide ‌his listeners "good music."