It doesn’t exist, but everyone listens to it. Xania Monet, R&B singer designed using artificial intelligence, is establishing herself as a new musical phenomenon. Within a few weeks, his single “How Was I Supposed to Know?” » reached the top 10 of digital R&B sales in the United States and number 22 on the overall chart of Billboard. Its catalog of five titles has already generated around $52,000 in revenue.
A singer without flesh or microphone
However, there is nothing human about the artist. It was created by Talisha Jones, a 31-year-old poet and graphic designer from Mississippi. Thanks to the Suno platform, a tool capable of transforming words into music, Jones gave life to a virtual singer with a polished style, inspired by the great voices of contemporary R&B. “ I wanted to create a credible artist, not a gimmick “, she explains.
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His bet is paying off: “I Ask for So Little” has already totaled 1.5 million plays, and the other songs – “This Ain’t No Tryout”, “The Strong Don’t Get a Break”, “Let God, Let Go” – have accumulated more than 12,500 “album equivalent units”. This success attracted the attention of record companies: Hallwood Media, Neil Jacobson’s label, has just signed Xania Monet for a contract valued at $3 million, after a real bidding war.
This unprecedented success is enough to worry “real” artists and the industry. Streaming platforms and regulatory authorities have still not clearly defined the status of these new genre artists. In the United States, only works “created with human participation” are protected by copyright; a piece produced exclusively by an AI finds itself in a gray area.
In the meantime, AI songs circulate on Spotify and Apple Music like any title, generating identical royalties. A fragile situation: the recording giants are already suing Suno and its competitor Udio, accusing them of having trained their algorithms on protected songs without authorization. If justice proves them right, the multi-million dollar agreement signed by Xania Monet could quickly lose all value.
Xania Monet is not alone: other virtual artists, such as Vinih Pray (“A Million Colors”) or the group The Velvet Sundown, already have millions of streams. Faced with this phenomenon, some are calling for reduced rates of remuneration for songs produced by AI – or even their exclusion from traditional income – in order to protect human musicians.
But the public doesn’t seem to care: they listen, share, add these tracks to playlists. And labels are watching these figures carefully. For Talisha Jones, this adventure proves that “ an independent creator can compete with the majors ».
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