Youtube lets you create your own AI-generated music it sounds damn near the great pop artists – with permission.
Announced ThursdayThe Google-owned video streaming platform allows creators to generate unique “dream tracks” for their Shorts in the style of Charli XCX, Troye Sivan, John Legend, Demi Lovato, Charlie Puth, Papoose, Sia, T-Pain and Alec Benjamin, all with the agreement of the artists themselves.
To create a track, creators can enter a song idea into the creation prompt, select one of the artists above, whose vocals will be AI-generated in the track.
“When YouTube first contacted me, I was cautious and still am. AI is going to transform the world and the music industry in ways we don’t fully understand yet,” said Charli XCX in a press release. Press statement. “This experience will offer a small glimpse into the creative opportunities that might be possible and I’m curious to see what comes of it.”
Credit: YouTube
The Shorts feature isn’t really a surprise, given Google announced its Music AI Incubator, a partnership with Universal Music Group, in August, and licensing artist voices for AI-generated music projects with YouTube. This was announced alongside the YouTube release AI Music Principleswho promise to “adopt it responsibly with our musical partners”.
Keeping this feature specifically for Shorts is a smart move, considering platforms like Spotify remove thousands of AI-generated songs – And Universal previously called for streaming services to crack down on AI-generated music over copyright concerns.
The news also comes just two days after YouTube announced it soon require creators to indicate whether a video was made with generative AIor risk being fined, having their content removed, or being suspended from the YouTube Partner Program – and, more importantly, artists themselves will be able to request the removal of deepfake content and uploaded AI-generated music without their consent.
In addition to the Dream Tracks released today, YouTube said it is working “on a set of music AI tools” with its Music AI Incubator, which will be tested later this year: “Imagine being able to transform way more transparently his thoughts and ideas into music; like creating a new guitar riff just by humming it or taking a pop track you’re working on and giving it a reggaeton feel. We’re developing forward-looking tools that could bring music to life these possibilities.”
This is eggshell territory, the musical space generated by AI, with possible controversy around every corner. But with major labels in direct conversation with tech platforms, licensing deals like these could at least provide some comfort to the artists themselves. Is AI-generated music the future? On the one hand, that’s what HYBE president Bang Si-Hyuk thinks.