Suno, Udio sued for copyright infringement because of course.
The RIAA, Sony, and Warner are suing two fast-emerging AI music firms for copyright infringement on what they describe as happening on an “almost unimaginable scale.”
The AI startups claim that they are acting on good faith which is why you aren’t allowed to use prompts with artist’s names.
That’s not what Ed Newton-Rex found. He is founder of an AI music safety nonprofit called Fairly Trained. According to Billboard, Newton-Rex “was able to generate music from Suno and Udio that ‘bears a striking resemblance to copyrighted music. This is true across melody, chords, style and lyrics,’ he wrote.”
At the moment the complains are circumstantial, citing songs that sound like other artists including ABBA and Bruce Springsteen.
Having created an album called Here Come The Neon Boys using Suno, I am inclined to agree that it is obvious the songs are being trained on a vast catalog, but whether that verges into infringement or is doing so all the time, is debatable. In my case it definitely wasn’t isn’t.
I had this whole backstory about the Neon Boys carpet bombing a dystopian world but they were also viewed as sex symbols and I also added the constraint of having to use the phrase “Neon Boys,” or “Neon Boy” in every song. It was a pain in the ass to get the stems and then try and build longer songs out of them. And the source material didn’t sound great. But I would record at least two of the songs for real because they showed promise.
Aside from the songs being short and resolution low and vocal inflections sometimes…well…weird, it is 100% possible to hear influences to say the very least. This isn’t to say what I personally created was a sign of infringement, especially as I wrote my own lyrics and only used the broadest prompts: 80’s goth, 80’s dance, 80’s synth, etc.
But there was a bunch of other songs I tried (all with my own lyrics) that used different prompts (Country, goth, etc) just to get a sense of it. And here’s most of them for your listening and reading pleasure, with the lyrics! The strange thing was I didn’t set out to write country or dance or whatever genre-specific songs when I wrote the lyrics. I just assigned them genres afterward: Take a listen
I mean it does sound kinda Blink 182ish.
Fashion Crimes of Status
Fashion Crimes of Status
You know those types are killing us
Fashion Crimes of Status
Culture is to cancel it’s the latest trend.
Give them an inch and they’ll cut off your head.
Fashion Crimes of Status
Fashion Crimes of Status
You know those types care killing us
Fashion Crimes of Status
Give them a mile and they’ll mangle your head.
Pushing all the buttons is the latest trend.
Fashion Crimes of Status
Fashion Crimes of Status
You know those types are killing us
Fashion Crimes of Status
*Are you Blink 182ish? You don’t look Blink 182ish.* (That’s a Yellow Submarine-the movie reference.)
Let’s not forget this banger Speaking of Suicide which was the original title of my latest short story “Stay tuned for coming up next” and it probably worked the best because I kept the lyrics to one verse. It the songs were too long they would inevitably get cut off.
Speaking of suicide
Speaking of sweat
Dance like you mean it
Dance till you’re dead
If you like weird country, I wrote the lyrics for a ditty for you called “Trucker”
Yeah, Trucker works the land with his hands
By the sweat of his whole back
Hey what gives a man the right to run from his life
Day after day like Trucker does?
Has the system got him confused?
Trucker can’t cheat, Trucker can’t steal.
Just to prove that you can cope better
No one needs to carry that shame.
Hey what gives a man the right to run from his life
Day after day like Trucker does?
The biggest surprise out of all these songs was one called “Your 26th high school reunion.” I don’t know how they got into a auto-tuneless Bon Iver singing blues thing but I definitely didn’t prompt it that way. I was thinking more indie rock when I wrote the lyrics.
They only thing I ever wanted to do
Was sing along off key to the radio
And though I never found my direction
I left you behind a long long time ago
I wonder if you and me are so different still
I’ll. bet nostalgia brings a tear to your eyes
I see your hair’s turned a light shade of gray.
Are you still mad at your ex' wife’s lies.
They only thing I ever wanted to do
was sing along off key to the radio
And though I never found my direction
I left you behind a long long time ago
Then there’s this Bizarro Bryan Ferry song called “Only Love Could Come To This.” Again, lyrics mine.
When I love,
I love at first sight
We can share so much between us
We can share a last meal by the river
I always fall in love for the first time walking away
Only love can come to this
Only love can come from this
Only love can come from this
We can share the depths between us
Even though there’s a chasm between us
And finally there’s “100% Green” which turned out two ways, an electro one and a gently psychedelic one. I prefer the gentle psychedelic one because I was probably channeling Donovan when I wrote it. I wish these didn’t cut off but there are always limits.
Shades of green and blue
Drenched in sweat
And sweet perfume
A hundred percent green
She wears a big green golden ring
Dances with the best, so serene.
And all those real life friends think
She’s an all-in-one everything
Seas are calm, the earth is green,
A hundred percent green
Shades of green and blue
Drenched in sweat
And sweet perfume
A hundred percent green
I’m sure there are other songs that could be viewed as infringing and I’m sure proving it will be a challenge. But the real point here is if you need me to write some lyrics, I’m available
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A much better question is “why are we both up, doing stuff and it’s not even 7 AM ?”
AI has spawned a new branch of creativity- such as your observations and attempts at using it to prove theories. I like to think our critical writing chops would be better spent on real music, but this is where we are. You know that Neon Boys was the name of Richard Hell & Tom Verlaine’s band before Television and the Voidoids, right?