Australia’s recorded music industry organisation has banned wholly AI-generated tracks from the country’s music charts.
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) has updated its Charts Code of Practice to align with global principles on recordings developed using generative artificial intelligence set out by IFPI.
Recordings that use generative AI in a supporting role will remain eligible, provided they are substantially human-made and raise no stream or chart manipulation concerns.
The changes will take effect from the ARIA Chart dated Monday, August 31.
“These changes reflect our intent to remain dynamic and promote the human nature of artistry in what is – to say the least – a rapidly developing space," said ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd. "Artists already use AI tools in their work, the charts can and should evolve to keep room for that, but music generated wholesale by services built on artists’ recordings is a different matter."
This gives everyone who releases music in Australia a clear rule to work to
Annabelle Herd, ARIA
Herd added: “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. We have worked closely with IFPI and a number of international industry bodies to understand how to best implement these changes in a way that is both clear and future-facing.
“This gives everyone who releases music in Australia a clear rule to work to. We call on all parties who have a role in deciding the music played and promoted to Australian audiences, particularly radio, to support human artistry and implement similar changes across their own codes.”
To distinguish AI-generated recordings from AI-assisted ones, ARIA will apply the definitions in the labelling standard announced by a broad spectrum of recorded music creators and companies around the world last month.
Where ARIA determines a recording is ineligible, it says it may "decline to accept it for survey, exclude or remove it from the charts prospectively or retrospectively, adjust chart positions, withdraw accreditations, and revoke or request the return of any ARIA No.1 Award". An ineligible recording will also not be eligible for an ARIA Award.
ARIA, which will keep the Code under review as AI policy and technology develop, has updated its disputes process so artists and their representatives can contest an exclusion and provide evidence supporting a recording’s eligibility.
PHOTO: ARIA
