Online Reporter
LONDON. — There’s a new song doing the rounds, and in the immortal words of Kylie Minogue, you just can’t get it out of your head.
But what if it was created by a robot, or the artist himself or herself, is a product of artificial intelligence?
Do streaming sites have an obligation to label music as AI-generated?
And does it even matter, if you like what you hear?
A survey published last week suggested 97 percent of respondents could not spot an AI-generated song.
But there are some tell-tale signs – if you know where to look.
Here’s a quick guide.
No live performances or social media presence
AI music became one of last summer’s hottest topics after accusations the band The Velvet Sundown were AI-generated sent them viral.
The band, who had no record label and a minimal social media footprint, quickly racked up hundreds of thousands of monthly listeners on Spotify after releasing two albums just weeks apart — and the music world grew suspicious.
The band initially denied the claims, later describing themselves as a synthetic project “guided by human creative direction, and composed, voiced and visualised with the support of artificial intelligence”.
They claimed the project was an “artistic provocation”, not a trick, but many fans felt betrayed. Internet sleuths were suspicious of the band’s airbrushed photos, which featured non-descript backgrounds and a warm orange filter.
There was also no record of them having performed live —no glowing reviews from fans posted online, nor any concert photos or videos.
The band members had not given interviews and did not appear to have individual social media accounts.
Looking into the real-life and social media presence of an artist can be one helpful indicator of whether or not they are real. But experts tell the BBC that fast-developing, sophisticated technology means it is increasingly hard to know when a song has been made using AI.
Still, while it may be tricky, they say there are signs listeners can be alert to.
‘A mashup of rock hits in a blender’
When LJ Rich started creating AI music around five years ago, she recalls how it could only generate three seconds at a time, taking about 10 hours to create a minute of audio.
Now, an entire song can be summoned rapidly with a single prompt, sparking what industry experts have described as an “explosion” of AI music, sometimes referred to as “slop” — on streaming platforms.
A song with a formulaic feel — sweet but without much substance or emotional weight – can be a sign of AI, says the musician and technology speaker, as well as vocals that feel breathless.
AI songs tend to stick to generic verse-chorus structures, and usually don’t have a satisfying ending. AI is also more likely to create lyrics that follow a correct grammatical structure, says Rich, whereas some of the most beautiful or memorable words penned by humans don’t always make sense.
Just ask Alicia Keys and her “concrete jungle where dreams are made of”, or The Rolling Stones and their flirtation with double negatives in (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.
‘AI hasn’t felt heartbreak yet’
Sometimes, what might stand out is a song that sounds almost too perfect, lacking minor flaws and variances. Artists, including Imogen Heap and Timbaland have created AI personas and released singles under their names.
This could mean no strain in the vocals, and overly polished production, according to Tony Rigg, music industry adviser and lecturer in music industry management at the University of Lancashire.
He adds that odd phrasing, unnatural emotional delivery, and lyrics that feel generic or repetitive can also be clues.
“AI hasn’t felt heartbreak yet… It knows patterns,” he explains. “What makes music human is not just sound but the stories behind it.”
It’s also worth paying close attention to the vocals. AI “singers” often sound a little slurred. Consonants and plosives (hard sounds like “p” and “t”) aren’t quite right. You might hear “ghost” harmonies, where backing vocals appear and disappear at random.
Steps toward transparency
There is currently no legal obligation for streaming platforms to label AI-generated songs, despite increasing calls for them to signpost such tracks. In January, the streaming platform Deezer launched an AI detection tool, followed this summer by a system which tages AI-generated music.
Deezer says its detection system can flag tracks made with the most prolific AI music creation tools, and is working on expanding its ability to detect music made by others. It says the risk of false positives—eg incorrectly flagging a track created by a human — is very low.
The tool quickly flagged up the music by The Velvet Sundown —the band who went viral over the summer —as being “100percent AI-generated”.
In September, Spotify said it would roll out a new spam filter later this year to identify “bad actors”, and prevent “slop” being recommended to listeners. In the past year, it has removed more than 75 million spam tracks. — BBC
Mathew Masinge