AI-generated music barred from Australian charts after Madonna cover controversy

SYDNEY, Aug 26 (Reuters) - AI-generated music will be excluded from Australia's music charts starting this week, the country's peak music trade group said, ‌following controversy over an Australian DJ's cover of Madonna's "Like a Prayer" ‌topping local music charts.

The Australian Recording Industry Association, or ARIA, said on Tuesday that wholly AI-generated tracks ​would no longer be eligible for its popular ARIA Charts, although recordings that use generative AI in a supporting role would remain eligible.

A recording developed using generative AI will be eligible only if it is "substantially human made" and raises no concerns ‌around streaming or chart manipulation, ⁠ARIA said.

To distinguish AI-generated recordings from AI-assisted ones, ARIA said it would apply definitions from a labelling standard announced by the ⁠global music community in July.

Major global record labels have been seeking new licensing arrangements to protect their vast catalogues as AI-generated music grows in popularity and consumers increasingly ​struggle ​to distinguish it from human-composed songs.

"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," ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd said.

ARIA compiles Australia's most popular songs and albums in the ARIA Charts, which are released on Apple Music and Spotify every Friday.

Queensland-based ‌DJ Josh Fawaz's cover of Madonna's 1989 hit "Like ​a Prayer" became the most-played song on ​Australian radio and reached No. 4 ​on two ARIA charts in July. Some producers alleged that ‌generative AI had been used and ​that it was not ​initially disclosed.

Reuters could not immediately contact Fawaz for comment.

Responding to a music producer's criticism on Instagram in June, Fawaz said that although he used ​AI "as a tool, it's not ‌that deep", adding he had been releasing music long before AI ​and his focus was to provide his listeners "good music."

(Reporting by Renju ​Jose in Sydney; Editing by Stephen Coates)