Australia's recorded music industry will ban tracks wholly generated by artificial intelligence from official charts, a move representative Annabelle Herd said is intended to protect artists' livelihoods in the face of burgeoning generative technologies.
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) announced that fully AI-generated songs will be ineligible for its charts starting Monday. This decision follows a period of debate fueled by a variation of Madonna's "Like a Prayer," which featured AI-generated vocals and drums, spending 16 weeks in the Australian top 20.
ARIA's guidelines stipulate that for a track to be eligible, humans must have written the song, performed the lead vocal, and played the primary instruments. AI-assisted music that meets these human-centric criteria will remain eligible.
"These changes reflect our intent to remain dynamic and promote the human nature of artistry in what is — to say the least — a rapidly developing space," said Herd, ARIA's chief executive. "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."
Additionally, AI-generated music will not be considered for the industry's prestigious ARIA awards. Music produced using unauthorized AI tools trained on existing artists' music, which has begun appearing on streaming services, will also be ineligible.
The new Australian rules align with principles released in July by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents the global recording industry. The IFPI's guidelines state that official music charts should only feature tracks that are "substantially human made."
Alexis Weaver, a composer and lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, described the debate around AI in music as "exceptionally fraught and very emotional for a lot of musicians." Weaver called ARIA's decision a "wonderful step forward," signaling a commitment to valuing human creativity. She also noted the increasing prevalence of AI tools, suggesting that artists can still integrate them into their workflow while retaining creative control.