Australia bans AI-generated music from official charts after Madonna cover backlash

Australia’s music industry has banned all AI-generated songs from official charts in a push to protect artistic integrity.

In recent years, generative artificial intelligence has swept across all the major industries including the Hollywood one, raising the concerns over artists’ livelihoods.

The specific move of cracking down on AI music comes as a variation of Madonna’s pop hit “Like a Prayer” created by AI-generated vocals and drums topped the official charts for at least 16 weeks, thereby sparking debate over the place of artificial intelligence in the music industry.

The song in question also stayed at number two on the Australian Record Industry Association’s top 20 Australian singles chart in May and in fourth on Tuesday.

In the wake of growing concerns, Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) banned such kind of music from charts starting next Monday while emphasizing that only human-made music will be eligible. ARIA said the new code would help "promote the human nature of artistry".

Tracks can be eligible only if “humans wrote the song and performed the lead vocal and the primary instruments,” among other requirements. However some AI-assisted music will be acceptable as per statement.

Moreover, if a song is found to be created by AI tools, it will be ineligible for industry’s prestigious ARIA awards.

ARIA chief executive Annabelle Herd said, “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."

The rule addresses unauthorized AI tools trained on artists' music, mirroring principles released in July by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The updated code, based on the IFPI directive, also excludes music that raises "stream or chart manipulation concerns".