She joins the likes of creative industry heavy-weights such as Paul McCartney, Thom Yorke, Stephen Fry, and Kevin Bacon amongst other actors, musicians, and writers, all of whom are raising alarms over what could be described as an assault on creative integrity.

The campaign, which emerged earlier this year, has gathered momentum with over 37,000 signatures. Its mission is clear: to prevent tech companies from exploiting copyrighted materials without consent. In a sharp rebuke to policymakers, it calls for urgent legislative action to shield creators from the encroachments of AI.

Bush’s endorsement is particularly resonant. Having stepped back from the public eye in recent years, the ‘Wuthering Heights’ singer’s decision to re-engage on this issue underscores its importance. Her involvement follows a rare interview in which she revealed a hunger to return to the recording studio, brimming with ideas for new music. It’s a striking juxtaposition: an artist who has long defined herself by her originality now confronting a technology that threatens to undermine precisely that.

It is not just creatives who are speaking out about the issue and signing the petition. Industry executives such as the composer Edward Newton-Rex - also a former senior executive at Stability AI who resigned over the matter – have warned about the potential for AI to dehumanise art by using it as training information for AI models. Newton-Rex and his non-profit Fairly Trained are working to ensure that creators are being treated fairly in the development of AI.

There have already been several cases where legal action has been brought to an AI company over the non-consensual use of copyrighted work. In early 2023 Getty Images filed a lawsuit against Stability AI in the UK High Court. The court proceedings gained momentum throughout 2023, with significant developments including judicial reviews allowing the case to proceed. The lawsuit is ongoing, and its trial is expected to address key legal questions surrounding copyright and AI training datasets​. The lawsuit encapsulates a larger cultural reckoning: as AI’s appetite for creative material grows, so too does the urgency to reconcile innovation with fair compensation for the human ingenuity it relies upon.

Cases such as these, coupled with events such as the deeply negative reaction to advertisements like Apple’s ‘Crush!’—released earlier this year, depicting a car crusher compacting a towering heap of creative tools, from pianos to paint pots, into an iPad— demonstrate that the delicate goodwill of utility that has existed between the tech and creative industries is being slowly eroded.

Companies like OpenAI, Meta, Stability AI and Apple are at a pivotal junction of trust between their creative consumer base and themselves. The response to this growing dissent at the appropriate or inappropriate use of AI, whether from government policymakers or the tech companies themselves, will likely shape the future dynamics between technology and the creative community for years to come.

This confluence of artistic voices and industry voices coming together in this petition represents a rare moment of solidarity across genres, generations, and mediums as musicians, actors, and writers band together to protect their craft. As Kate Bush herself looks to rekindle her creative spark, her message is clear: the future of music and art should be first and foremost in human hands, not at the mercy of imitative algorithms.

Celebrate #Pride with your favorite George Michael songs reimagined by @palewaves, @yearsandyears, @MNEK, @theebillyporter, and more.

Listen now to all the covers in #SpatialAudio with @Dolby Atmos. https://t.co/15lheVMHIu pic.twitter.com/DnFoPe45Zp

— Apple Music (@AppleMusic) June 28, 2022

Opening the playlist is “Faith” covered by English indie outfit Pale Waves, the 1987 smash hit is widely regarded as the start of Michael’s long and storied solo career. Next up is “Outside” covered by Olly Alexander’s solo project Years & Years. Originally released in 2006 the track was accompanied by an infamous music video which cemented Michael as a cultural hero. Alexander has spoken on the importance of Michael and the power of his enduring legacy, “One of the things I love most about George Michael was his ability to own his narrative. He was a huge, huge star. I’m sure he struggled with some of the attention and issues that come with worldwide fame, and he still remained so iconic, so true to who he was.”

The singer continued to discuss the impact of the music video for “Outside”, “He still had fun with it. He was always trying new things and taking risks and unashamedly himself. And I take so much inspiration from that … He got arrested in 1998—I think the terminology is ‘soliciting a police officer in a public toilet’—then goes and writes a song about it. And it’s such a banger. Wow! I just think it’s so incredible for him to just own that narrative and really go, ‘Yeah, I like to have sex outside.’ And it’s such a bop.”

 

 

 

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The next hit to receive a makeover is the 1996 track “Fastlove”, included within the playlist is a cover by Grammy-nominated singer and producer MNEK. The fourth song within George Michael Covered is” Praying For Time” covered by English singer-songwriter Self Esteem, the track was originally released in 1990 and was taken from the seminal album Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1.  Apple Music’s playlist also features celebrated figure Billy Porter, the multi-talented American artist can be heard within his cover of “Monkey”. Originally released in 1988, the track was featured on the iconic album Faith and was the sixth single to be released from the album.

Faith was Michael’s debut solo album and is now a landmark release within popular music, Apple’s playlist also contains the album’s final single “Kissing A Fool”. Originally released in 1987, Apple’s curated collection features a cover by Brooklyn-based artist serpentwithfeet. Michael’s anthem and cherished love song “Careless Whisper” is also included within the playlist and has been covered by 26-year-old singer Tiana Major9. Britain’s Got Talent contender Calum Scott provides a cover of “One More Try”, the third track from Faith to be included within the playlist. The specially created compilation concludes with “Amazing” covered by Jake Shears, best known as the lead singer of pop-rock group Scissor Sisters.

For Pride, Apple Music are honouring an icon. Hear my cover of George Michael’s #Amazing now on their #GeorgeMichaelCovered playlist here: https://t.co/otq0XZHBiH pic.twitter.com/krRkFVk1z7

— Jake Shears (@Jakeshears) June 28, 2022

In celebration of the playlist’s release, Apple Music teamed up with Gay Times to host a special party. The event took place on Wednesday 29th June 2022 and was held on the rooftop of London’s The Standard hotel. Those in attendance included guests such as Ella Vaday and Kitty Scott-Claus, stars of RuPaul’s Drag Race and English electro pop artist Girli. The event also included DJ sets from ABSOLUTE and Nimmo and performances by LGBTQIA+ dance troupe Sue Veneers Club.

Along with the specially curated playlist, fans have also been treated to the inclusion of Michael’s back catalogue in Spatial Audio. This is the first time that the singer’s music has been made available in the cutting edge 3d audio technology and is accessible to stream now via Apple Music.

Shazam’s software allows users of smart phones to find out which song it is playing on the radio, just by holding their smart phone up to a speaker. 

For years the age old question has always been, “who sings this song?”, “what’s this song called?”, and we had no way of knowing the answer. Shazam is the answer to those prayers, and knows through its analysing technology the answer to those questions.

In 2018, Shazam revealed that the most searched for song of 2018 was Clean Bandit’s “Solo” featuring Demi Lovato. It was revealed to have been tagged 9.1 million times.

The second most popularly searched for song, was X by Nicky Jam and J Balvin, with Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa’s “One Kiss’ coming in at third place.

The company was bought by the giant Apple last year, for a reported $400m (£316m). Shazam had over 120 million users, and was one of the only music technology companies to be making a profit.

Apple has used its purchase of Shazam to get users over to their streaming service.

Ed Sheehan also proved popular in 2018 with his track “Perfect” coming in at the fifth most Shazamed song, and the number one song in Shazam’s global charts this year. “Perfect” had been at the top of the bill for nine weeks, as well as being the most shared song worldwide. Sheehan is the only artist to have claimed pop’s most Shazamed song of 2017 hit the number one spot in the same genre twice.

Shazam revealed that “Friends” by Marshmallow and Anne-Marie was 2018’s most Shazamed track in a day worldwide, on April 9th.  Drake was named as the most Shazamed artist of the year,  J Balvin was the second most popularly searched artist.

Top 10 Most Shazamed Songs

1. “Solo”, Clean Bandit Feat. Demi Lovato
2. “X”, Nicky Jam & J Balvin
3. “One Kiss”, Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa
4. “In My Mind”, Dynoro & Gigi D’agostina
5. “Perfect”, Ed Sheehan
6. “Leave a Light On”, Tom Walker
7. “Girls Like You”, Maroon 5 Feat. Cardi B
8. “Friends”, Marshmallow & Anne-Marie
9. “Flames”, David Guetta & Sia
10. “I Like It”, Cardi B & Bad Bunny & J Balvin

Most Shazamed Songs by Genre

Country: “You Make It Easy”, Jason Aldean

Pop: “Perfect”, Ed Sheehan

Dance: “Solo”, Clean Bandit Feat. Demi Lovato

Hip-Hop: “I Like It”, Cardi B & Bad Bunny & J Balvin

Rock/Alt: “Feel It Still”, Portugal. The Man

K-Pop: “FAKE LOVE”, BTS

Latino: “X”, Nicky Jam & J Balvin

R&B: “Love Lies”, Khalid & Normani

The deal will see Apple increase the amount of support that it can offer to new musicians using the business’ Apple Music streaming service. Since its launch, Platoon has worked with some big emerging artists such as Billie Eilish, Stefflon Don and Jorja Smith.

Platoon has always had close links to Apple thanks to co-founder Mr Feigelson, who worked closely with Apple for 15 years on projects including its iTunes music store and its yearly iTunes Festival in London.

The company’s other co-founder, Mr Klein, previously co-founded technology business LoveFilm. He now invests in early-stage technology businesses through his LocalGlobe investment firm.

Music Business Worldwide reported on Friday that Platoon will continue to run as an independent business from its North London office. The purchase of Platoon is not the first deal that Apple has made which could allow it to find promising young musicians.