More recently, UMG has set its sights on AI assistant Claude 2, developed by American tech startup Anthropic PBC. Instead of focusing on supposedly stolen voice talent, UMG has joined Concord Publishing and ABKCO Records to contest the AI assistant’s use of copyrighted lyrics. The complaint filed by the three music labels argues that “Anthropic unlawfully copies and disseminates vast amounts of copyrighted works—including the lyrics to myriad musical compositions owned or controlled by Publishers.” When the AI assistant Claude 2 is asked to recite lyrics from copyrighted music, they are regurgitated by the program. While websites like Genius, a large music lyric database, serve a similar function, they seek licensing agreements from the owners of the copyrighted material used on their site.

Even outside of music, AI companies have been in hot water over copyright law, with The Times filing a lawsuit against OpenAI, the operator of Chat GPT. The Times cites a similar claim to UMG, stating that their copyrighted materials are displayed by the program without permission. However, there is a deeper issue at the heart of both of these lawsuits. Copyrighted material is used to train these AI models. Understandably, both UMG and The Times are not thrilled by their material being used to improve the product of another business without credit or license. This is an issue posed by AI assistants across all mediums, with artists, musicians, and writers essentially having their work scraped from the internet and fed into a program that presents stolen work as original. 

ghotstwriter977’s ‘Heart on My Sleeve’ was a novelty designed to outline how producers and writers are often treated as disposable when compared to big-name artists like Drake. Speaking to CNN, ghostwriter977 said: “I was a ghostwriter for years and got paid close to nothing just for major labels to profit”. ghostwriter977 flipped this narrative on its head, producing and writing a compelling Drake song without involving the artist himself. In the case of Claude 2 and Chat GPT, the use of copyrighted content serves a less noble cause as many see the rise of generative AI programs to be reliant on the mass theft of other people’s work. This is an attitude expressed by UMC and associated parties in their filing against Anthropic. 

Gone are the days where one could simply get by on the quality of a good song, in the current climate it’s arguable that a starting out Nirvana couldn’t get on the radio with “Smells Like Teen Spirit” without the thousands of followers necessary to prove their worth. Today it seems the music industry is operating in an almost exclusively algorithmic market that relies more on numbers and statistics to provide proof of an artists potential than it does the traditional ‘gut feeling’ of a cigar toting A&R. Junior scouts now struggle to convince their bosses on a hunch, they need the backing of thousands of thirsty comments on the artists latest well lit bedroom post to gain approval. In many ways it makes complete sense, why risk your job signing someone with no following when you could sign an Instagram model who already has millions of fans in place? It’s a no brainer right? Increasingly the answer seems to be yes, and it’s getting a lot of artists both undiscovered and established in quite the tizz.

Take Halsey for example, you may consider the 27 year old New Jersey singer a house hold name, and you wouldn’t be wrong, she’s sold over 165 million records and streamed over 6 billion times in the US alone, but that doesn’t make her immune to Tik Tok’s sting. In a recent post captioned “I’m tired” she explained how her record label were barring the release of a new song she loved unless they could “fake a viral moment on Tik Tok”. The result? Ironically, 8.8 million views, on Tik Tok.

@halseyI’m tired♬ original sound – Halsey

She’s not the only one, other notably hacked off heavyweights include FKA Twigs, Charlie XCX, Florence Welch, and Rebecca Lucy Taylor AKA Self Esteem, all of whom went to their respective social media outlets to vent their frustration. It’s an interesting conundrum, as Taylor keenly points out “Why are labels so desperate to apply the same techniques to every artist, treating them as social media commodities to sell or personalities to market, rather than talented musicians with their own unique creations, fanbases and brands?”. It seems the ability to remain somewhat mysterious and aloof is largely lost in the ‘share all’ culture that’s emerging, with artists that leaned on their mystique heavily like Florence + the Machine feeling the pinch.

Where this is all going to end up and how damaging or transformative it’s going to be for the industry I don’t know, I’m only allowed 500 words, but one thing’s for sure, it’s certainly stirring up a lot of drama on both sides of the fence.

The 29 year old Pennsylvania native has been rampantly releasing music since the winter of 2010. Back then he was making early demos and EP’s on the Bandcamp software that his parents new Apple computer afforded him whilst studying for his final years at Haverford High School. Now he’s a major cult figure in the US Indie scene, revered by fellow musicians and critics alike for his melodious and original compositions that vary in complexity throughout his discography. From simple 2 chord ballads, to all out key-changing tone modulating mysteries, the songwriter has built a career on a lack of predictability and deft touch for melody reminiscent of 90’s indie icon Eliot Smith. He is a huge shot in the arm for a scene often scrambling for fresh ideas and currency in the wake of an internet culture that values Tik Tok fast food over anything with a modicum of depth or intricacy. He is a rare exception to the rule in that he can live and thrive amongst such a culture without needing to abide by its rules. He doesn’t have a Tik Tok account and yet remains a relevant and a popular tastemaker amongst the internet kids that add his music to their videos daily.

Speaking recently about “Blessing” with Apple Music and Genius Lyrics he said: “I wrote this song early one morning when I couldn’t sleep. A few months later, I brought it up to my band and we recorded most of it live in upstate New York.” A somewhat un-expected origin story then, the song is a hardly a lullaby, but then perhaps it is in his world? All we know, is it’s best to expect the unexpected when it comes to Alex G.

There are currently no UK tour dates booked for Alex G, but you can find them here first when they are announced.

Over the past few months the pair have been teasing working on a track together however fans may not have to wait as long as they expected for the duos musical signatures to intertwine. The first mention of a collaboration was confirmed by Charli XCX in May last year when the pair allegedly had discussed making music together. Many months passed and fans had lost some hope – writing off this statement as a passing conversation more than an actual plan to collaborate anytime soon. However, hopes have recently been lifted as the ‘Boom Clap’ singer uploaded photos and videos of her upcoming projects, including screenshots of texts between herself and Sawayama in which they can be pictured hyping up what seems to be a collaborative single “Our voices work so well together” wrote Sawayama to Charli.

It would be just a week later that Charli XCX posts a Tik Tok featuring the then untitled track which seems to be revering down a synth pop sensuality route combined with the duos signature enthusiasm. In the short 10 seconds we hear Sawayama’s silky vocals chiming the lyrics “…Coming and going just as you please / Separated by a degree, hesitated illusion so far out of reach.” watch the video here.

In more exciting turns of this slow burn release schedule, Sawayamas most recent Tik Tok depicts the duo donned in white dresses on what seems to be the video set for ‘Beg For You.‘ This clip also tells us a lot more about the tune which samples the 2006 top hit ‘Cry For You’ yet becoming modernised to fit the current industry thematics and both singers aesthetics. The music video also seems to be taking on a more ethereal scenery, with both singers sitting comfortably close wearing similar white silk slip dresses, the background is minimal yet the lighting portrays a warmer tone to the shoot – its purposes yet are still unknown.

We can guarantee both Charli’s self proclaimed ‘Angels‘ and Sawayamas ‘Pixels‘ are overjoyed with the news that two of Britains most influential female voices are joining forces. Underneath both the stars teaser Tik Tok’s fans showered the duo with support with comments from some stating “Quite literally will be the only song I stream after its release. we love a sample” and another saying “Charli x Rina is already the biggest serve of 2022″

Charli XCX is set to release her new studio album, CRASH on March the 18th of 2022 and has already released two tracks the 80s embodied ‘Good Ones‘ (which has been remixed by Perfume Genius) and a collaboration with Christine And The Queens and Caroline Polacheck titled ‘New Shapes‘.

.@GlassAnimals‘ “Heat Waves” rises 13-10 on this week’s #Hot100.

It reaches the top 10 in its 42nd week. That’s the longest trip to the top 10 in the chart’s 63-year history.

— billboard charts (@billboardcharts) November 8, 2021

The record was previously held by American Idol winner Carrie Underwood and her Grammy winning single “Before He Cheats”. Underwood took a meagre 38 weeks to climb into the top 10 and peak in 8^th position. 4 Weeks less than Glass Animals journey.

Meanwhile, the bands UK tour began in Glasgow last night. The tour will see them all over the UK with dates in Birmingham, London, Dublin and many others. See the full list of tour dates here.

While announcing the tour, the band also released a new single “I Don’t Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance)”. Most of the viral success the band received from “Heat Waves” had clearly evaporated as the new single didn’t break the top 100 in the US or UK. The song has, however, been well received by fans along with it’s video directed by Drew Kirsch who co-directed Taylor Swift’s video for her single “Me”.

Upon releasing the single, frontman, Dave Bayley stated “The new single is intended to provide a musical release from the pressure cooker of a global pandemic”. The band also expressed the sensation of releasing new music during a pandemic as “overwhelming”. Bayley elaborated “That’s what this track is about – that pressure cooker exposing and expanding so many cracks, but struggling to fill them in and decompress”.

The bands slow and steady approach seems to be working well for them too, as “Heat Wave” also managed to land 5^th position in the UK Singles Chart. While not quite as long winded as the climb in the US, it still took 35 consecutive weeks of climbing to finally make it. Dreamland is also, unsurprisingly, Glass Animals’ most commercially successful album debuting at number 2 upon the albums’ release in 2020.