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.

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.

Some producers alleged that generative AI had been used in Queensland-based DJ Josh Fawaz's cover of Madonna's 1989 hit Like a Prayer and that it was not initially disclosed. It became the most-played song on Australian radio and reached No. 4 on two ARIA charts in July.

Reuters could not immediately contact Fawaz for comment.

Music producer Mitch Thomas, who performs under the name 'Needs No Sleep', has called Fawaz "the biggest issue in music right now".

Responding to Thomas' 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."

Madonna's representatives at Warner Records did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours.

GOVERNMENT STEPS

Musicians, songwriters and producers have been urging governments to take steps to protect their creative work, criticising the use of AI tools such as Suno to produce tracks with minimal human input and without proper credit for artists.

Singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Seymour of Australian rock band Hunters & Collectors has said AI companies were using creative works without permission or payment, and that the value of artists' creative investment should "never be threatened."

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last month promised that the government would take steps to ensure Australian creative artists retain ownership of their work.