AI music has been non-stop as of late.
In addition to replicating artists’ voices such as Drake and The Weeknd, now, Travis Scott has been entered into the mix. However, the rapper’s case is more than just a handful of songs.
Vice reports that 20 community members from AI Hub, a Discord server, came together to create an AI album titled “UTOP-AI.” The project features AI-generated vocals from Scott along with Drake, Baby Keem, and Playboi Carti. Led by the creator of AI Hub, who goes by “Snoop Dogg,” they explained that they created the album since Scott has delayed putting out his own.
“If you’re not aware, ‘Utopia’ is an upcoming album that Travis Scott has been teasing for quite some time, but has never been released,” said AI Hub’s Snoop Dogg, according to the outlet. “A couple of members decided ‘You know what? We should just make Utopia ourselves at this point. We have the technology now.’”
The project “UTOP-AI” dropped on YouTube on April 22. Just three hours after its release, it was removed for copyright infringement, which was flagged by Warner Music Group, the outlet details. What’s more, it was removed from SoundCloud. Prior to being taken down, it’s said to have hit 150,000 plays on SoundCloud and 17,000 plays on YouTube.
To avoid being removed, the AI Hub members had put a disclaimer for the album that stated it should be exempt from copyright infringement due to Fair Use. The doctrine “permits a party to use a copyrighted work without the copyright owner’s permission for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research,” according to Copyright Alliance.
Vice notes that many AI creators have been using Fair Use in their defense as they claim to not be profiting off the music and are either creating it as a parody or for educational purposes.
As the rate of AI music has increased, so has action that’s being taken.
As previously reported by AfroTech, Universal Music Group (UMG) had the viral AI song “Heart On My Sleeve,” which replicated Drake’s and The Weeknd’s voices, taken down from streaming services. The removal came after UMG asked streaming services to block AI from having access to copyrighted content.