Three songs generated by artificial intelligence topped music charts this week, reaching the highest spots on Spotify and Billboard charts.
Walk My Walk and Livin’ on Borrowed Time by the outfit Breaking Rust topped Spotify’s “Viral 50” songs in the US, which documents the “most viral tracks right now” on a daily basis, according to the streaming service. A Dutch song, We Say No, No, No to an Asylum Center, an anti-migrant anthem by JW “Broken Veteran” that protests against the creation of new asylum centers, took the top position in Spotify’s global version of the viral chart around the same time. Breaking Rust also appeared in the top five on the global chart.
“You can kick rocks if you don’t like how I talk,” reads a lyric from Walk My Walk, a seeming double entendre challenging those opposed to AI-generated music.
Days after its ascent up the charts, the Dutch song disappeared from Spotify and YouTube, as did Broken Veteran’s other music. Spotify told the Dutch outlet NU.nl that the company had not removed the music, the owners of the song rights had. Broken Veteran told the outlet that he did not know why his music had disappeared and that he was investigating, hoping to return it soon.
In an email to the Guardian, Broken Veteran, who declined to give his real name, said that he saw AI as “just another tool for expression, particularly valuable for people like me who have something to say but lack traditional musical training”, adding that the technology had “democratized music creation”. He claimed his songs “express frustration with governmental policies, not with migrants as individuals”.
For three weeks, Walk My Walk has led Billboard’s “Country Digital Song Sales” chart, which measures downloads and digital purchases. The list is minor in comparison to Billboard’s “Hot Country Songs” or “Top Country Albums”, which measure a broader range of signals of success. Breaking Rust did not respond to a request for comment.
AI-made music spreads
These three songs are part of a flood of AI-generated music that has come to saturate streaming platforms. A study published on Wednesday by the streaming app Deezer estimates that 50,000 AI-generated songs are uploaded to the platform every day – 34% of all the music submitted.
Walk My Walk and We Say No, No, No to an Asylum Center, aren’t the first AI-generated songs to reach a mass audience. Over the summer, AI-generated songs from a group going by the name Velvet Sundown amassed over a million streams on Spotify, in what one member later described as an “art hoax”.
Ed Newton-Rex, a musician and the founder of a non-profit that certifies generative AI companies’ data training practices as fair to artists, says that the sheer number of AI-generated songs now online is a key factor driving the ascent of a few AI-generated hits.
“It’s part of the very rapid trend of AI music gaining in popularity essentially because it’s spreading in volume,” he said. “What you have here is 50,000 tracks a day that are competing with human musicians. You have a new, hyperscalable competitor and, moreover, this competitor that was built by exploitation.”
AI music has improved in quality from its early, clanking days. As part of its study, Deezer surveyed 9,000 people in eight countries and found that 97% could not distinguish between AI-generated music and human-written music.
“There’s no denying it. I think it’s fair to say you can’t distinguish the best AI music from human-composed music now,” Newton-Rex said.
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New distribution models for AI-made music
Human-level quality is not the only reason for the success of AI-generated tracks on Spotify. As with many parts of the AI slop economy, there are a set of tools and platforms out there that enable AI music to spread easily – and sub-communities of users eager to share tips to game the system.
Jack Righteous, a blog on AI content creation, recommends that its followers generate “streams of passive income” using a music distribution service called DistroKid, which funnels royalties to music creators every time their AI tracks are streamed on YouTube, Spotify or TikTok.
DistroKid is part of an ecosystem of online music distribution services, such as Amuse, Landr and CDBaby, which help creators place their music on major platforms like YouTube and Spotify. These services have varied policies on AI-generated content, and blogs describe DistroKid’s as “more lenient”. Several hits from Breaking Rust, including Livin’ on Borrowed Time and Resilient, appear to be distributed by DistroKid.
“Basically every piece of AI music you see isn’t distributed by a regular label. They’re made by a person in their bedroom and uploaded to these distribution sites,” said Chris Dalla Riva, author of the book Uncharted Territory, on the data behind music virality.
When reached for comment, Spotify pointed to its policy on AI-generated tracks.
