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- Grimes, the electronic music producer and singer, took a stance on generative AI in music.
- "I'll split 50% royalties on any successful AI generated song that uses my voice," she tweeted.
- The genre-bending artist and onetime Elon Musk girlfriend said the technology could open-source art.
While the music industry reckons with potential disruptions caused by generative AI, Claire Boucher — also known by her stage name Grimes — is seemingly open to embracing whatever potential the technology might have to offer.
The Canadian producer and singer, who rose to critical acclaim over a decade ago for her genre-bending album "Visions," noted Sunday night on Twitter that she's willing to split 50% of royalties with any AI-generated song that harnesses her voice successfully.
This 50/50 split is apparently the same deal she would ink with any other artist collaboration — robot or not.
Her statement did not end there, however. Boucher went on to essentially invite the use of her voice for AI-based musical projects, saying, "Feel free to use my voice without penalty. I have no label and no legal bindings."
She didn't detail exactly how such a royalty split would work, and it's not clear how someone might work with music from Grimes' past albums that are on record labels that presumably still hold claims to that work. "Visions," for example was released under 4AD, a record label owned by Beggars Group. A business associate of Grimes didn't immediately return a request for comment; 4AD also didn't immediately comment.
But while her declaration runs counter to what major labels would desire — that is, receiving a cut of any use of copyrighted music — Boucher has a history of experimenting with new technology, not only in her music, but also in her personal life.
Last month she claimed a brain-computer interface allowed her to maneuver her computer mouse using her mind.
The emergence of AI-created music that imitates vocal melodies or even production styles of popular artists treads legally dubious water. Taking any part of the original recording of an existing song and using it to train an AI model to create something new, would be an example of copyright infringement.
Even before an AI-generated song featuring the voices of Drake and The Weeknd went viral last week, major tech companies, like Google, have been working on developing their own tools that can create music based on text descriptions.
"I think it's cool to be fused w a machine and I like the idea of open sourcing all art and killing copyright," Boucher, who was in a relationship with Elon Musk and co-parents two children with the Tesla creator, claimed. "Im just curious what even happens and interested in being a Guinea pig."