Grimes Gives Permission for Her Voice to Be Used in AI Music

"Feel free to use my voice without penalty. I have no label and no legal bindings."

Photo via @grimes on Instagram

BY Megan LaPierrePublished Apr 24, 2023

Last week was a big one for the new frontier at the intersection of music and technology: an AI-generated Drake and the Weeknd song went viral (before a Universal Music Group copyright claim got it removed from streaming services), and an AI Oasis album was the story, morning glory.

Although music is her side quest now, noted AI fan Grimes has apparently been getting back to it "for the first time in ages" — but she's also down to let her voice be used in AI-generated songs.

In her latest transmission on the app her former paramour Elon Musk is increasingly setting fire to the ashes of, the musician shared a screenshot of the header of a New York Times article about the fake Drake and the Weeknd track.

"I'll split 50% royalties on any successful AI generated song that uses my voice," she wrote, explaining that it would be the same deal she would have with any real artist she was collaborating with. "Feel free to use my voice without penalty. I have no label and no legal bindings."

Grimes added, "I think it's cool to be fused w a machine and I like the idea of open sourcing all art and killing copyright."
   
Naturally, this stance comes as no surprise from the artist born Claire Boucher — hacker extraordinaire and aspiring post-human. As the NYT headline suggests, most of the real music world was "rattled" by the legal and artistic quandaries an AI-generated hit song brings about.

Oblivion, indeed.

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