A live performance from Jorja Smith, whose label is calling for ‘I Run’ credit and compensation. Photo Credit: Justin Higuchi
Jorja Smith’s record label is now demanding credit on and compensation for Haven’s “I Run” – including the version of the track featuring vocals from human artist Kaitlin Aragon.
UK-based FAMM voiced that demand (and dove into the creative-sector fallout of AI’s growing prevalence) in a roughly 1,000-word Instagram post.
As we previously broke down, Haven’s “I Run” started racking up streams, was booted from DSPs for allegedly containing unauthorized Jorja Smith soundalike vocals, and then returned to on-demand platforms with Aragon’s newly recorded vocals.
(At the time of this writing, the “I Run” re-recording had 16.1 million Spotify streams to its credit; Aragon’s monthly listener count has soared since the track dropped.)
Less widely covered, however, are the behind-the-scenes discussions between Haven (producers Harrison Walker and Jacob Donaghue, that is) and Smith’s label. The way FAMM sees things, “both versions of the track infringe on Jorja’s rights and unfairly take advantage of the work of all of the songwriters with whom she collaborates.”
As such, the indie label indicated that it’d shut down Haven’s alleged proposal to feature Smith on an “I Run” remix. “We could have cut a cheque in a backroom deal and gotten paid but we ignored the request,” FAMM wrote.
(Of course, Smith herself would need to sign off on the possible feature as well; as of late, it’s been business as usual for the 28-year-old, who doesn’t seem to have penned a social media post about “I Run.”)
Elsewhere in the lengthy message – read on for the full text, exploring, among many different things, the need for DSPs to embrace AI audio tags – FAMM underscored the belief that AI wrote “I Run” as opposed to solely pumping out the soundalike vocals.
“We believe that AI was used to write the lyrics and melody,” the indie noted before touching on adjacent plans, assuming it’s “awarded a share of the song,” to provide “each of Jorja’s co-writers with a pro-rata share.”
“This allocation would be based on the % of Jorja’s catalogue that they have contributed to, as, ultimately, if AI helped to write ‘I Run’, it would have been trained on Jorja’s catalogue of songs,” the label wrote.
As used here, “awarded” might suggest that FAMM intends to pursue (or is already pursuing) legal action; DMN asked about the possibility and the precise status of talks with Haven, but didn’t immediately receive a response. Furthermore, Haven doesn’t appear to have commented publicly on the subject.
In the same statement, though, FAMM emphasized a bigger-picture goal of sparking “a discussion that is so desperately needed” amid AI’s rapid evolution.
“‘I Run’ seems to be a clear example of why we all need to step up and push for some guardrails before the moment is completely lost,” wrote FAMM, which also serves as the professional home of Mychelle, Maverick Sabre, Enny, and others.
Here’s the full message posted by FAMM about the “I Run” credits as well as the broader implications of AI music’s rise.
“We are in uncharted territory. AI is all around us and already impacting the way we consume music. We need to talk about what that means for creatives. This isn’t just about Jorja. It’s bigger than 1 artist or 1 song. Here’s why we want this conversation to be had publicly.
An ‘unreleased Jorja Smith track’ called ‘I Run’ recently went viral but it turns out that the vocal did not belong to Jorja – it belonged to a man called Harrison Walker (professionally known as Haven) who had used AI to make his voice sound like Jorja’s and had used Jorja’s name (without permission) suggesting to the public that it was actually Jorja singing.
The track was due to chart but was removed from streaming services and radio before it could do so. Haven and his team have now replaced the AI vocal with a real human’s vocal although we still believe both versions of the track infringe on Jorja’s rights and unfairly take advantage of the work of all of the songwriters with whom she collaborates.
We have a duty to speak up. The usage and efficacy of AI is growing at an alarming rate and substantially outpacing regulation. AI technology is being trained on the labour and ingenuity of the very same creators it intends to replace without any due credit or compensation.
We have an opportunity to discuss how AI technology is used in the arts and so intend to encourage public discourse around how we should establish a framework to regulate such use of AI.
Let’s look at this situation. We believe that AI was used to write the lyrics and melody of ‘I Run’; a male vocal was then recorded and AI was used to manipulate the vocal into sounding like Jorja Smith; Jorja’s name and vocal likeness were then used without permission to suggest to the public that ‘I Run’ was an unreleased Jorja Smith track.
The track was marketed aggressively and, as we understand it, 4 separate distributors were used to deliver the track multiple times to streaming and social media platforms thereby circumventing usual takedown procedures. A Spotify spokesperson stated that: ‘Spotify strictly prohibits artist impersonation. This track was detected and removed, and no royalties were paid out for any streams generated.’
The public believed this was a Jorja Smith track. AI was used to create the impression that fans were listening to art and performance wholly created by people. We cannot allow this to be the new normal.
Broke Records, Iseakai Records [sic], AAO Records, Haven, Waypoint and their counterparts seemed to rely on public confusion as a key part of the marketing strategy and it’s worked because look at the storm that’s been created and that they are now profiting from. They could have made the public aware that Jorja’s vocals did not feature on ‘I Run’ but instead appeared to revel in the confusion that had been created.
A second layer of public confusion arose once doubt had been cast over whether these were, in fact, Jorja Smith vocals – is this an AI track? Are these AI vocals? Again, rather than clear up the confusion immediately, they allowed the storm to brew.
Haven’s team reached out once ‘I Run’ had gone viral to ask whether Jorja would jump on a remix. They did so as they needed to legitimise the track as the public had been led to believe that they were listening to Jorja Smith’s vocals. At no point did they mention to us that AI had been used to manipulate the existing vocals but we already had a suspicion that this was the case.
We could have cut a cheque in a backroom deal and gotten paid but we ignored the request.
What happens next? AI material should be clearly labelled as such so that the public may choose whether they consume AI material or not. And creators who are happy for their protected works to be used to train AI should be credited and compensated accordingly.
If we are successful in establishing that AI helped to write the lyrics and melody in ‘I Run’ and are awarded a share of the song, we would seek to allocate each of Jorja’s co-writers with a pro-rata share.
This allocation would be based on the % of Jorja’s catalogue that they have contributed to, as, ultimately, if AI helped to write ‘I Run’, it would have been trained on Jorja’s catalogue of songs.
In a recent Vanity Fair piece, Victoria Monét commented on AI artist Xania Monét, acknowledging that she can’t definitively say that Xania Monet was trained on her music but that the resemblance feels uncanny. ‘It’s hard to comprehend that, within a prompt, my name was not used for this artist to capitalise on.’
As we can draw a link between (I) the use of Jorja’s name and likeness, and (II) the similarity in the sound of the vocals, we can shine a light on what has happened here and hopefully spark a discussion that is so desperately needed.
Unfortunately, creators (as well as many other skilled workers) are collateral damage in the race by governments and corporations towards AI dominance. This means we can’t rely on governments to establish the framework we need, as that would require restricting the training and use of AI.
The songwriters and recording artists we know and love aren’t there by chance. Talent plays a part but the journey that artists and songwriters go through over the years requires determination, grit and sheer endeavour and that should never be lost in a conversation about the evolution and impact of AI.
‘I Run’ seems to be a clear example of why we all need to step up and push for some guardrails before the moment is completely lost.”
