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Jorja Smith’s record label has called for a share of the royalties from a TikTok-viral song that it claims used an AI-cloned version of the British singer’s voice.
The song I Run, by British dance act Haven, went viral in October and was due to chart in the UK and the US after reaching No 11 on the US Spotify chart and No 25 on the platform’s global chart.
It was then banned by streaming services after takedown notices issued by Smith’s label, and industry bodies the Recording Industry Association of America and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry alleged that the song infringed on copyright by impersonating Smith – and by misleading listeners into believing that the song was an unreleased original by her.
Many of Haven’s social media posts about the song were tagged #jorjasmith. A video appeared to show Offset of Migos playing the song during his set at Boiler Room New York, which led many fans to believe it was an unreleased Smith song – footage that itself turned out to be fake.
The apparently female vocals on the song were uncredited, and in fact belonged to the band’s Harrison Walker, processed through Suno’s genAI. “It shouldn’t be any secret that I used AI-assisted processing to transform solely my voice for I Run,” Walker told Billboard. “As a songwriter and producer I enjoy using new tools, techniques and staying on the cutting edge of what’s happening.”
Sony Music, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group have previously filed lawsuits against Suno over claims that the company trained its model on the labels’ works. Suno has claimed that it did so under fair use laws. Warner has since agreed a deal with Suno; Sony and Universal remain in litigation.
In a statement posted on Instagram, Smith’s label Famm claimed that once I Ran originally went viral, Haven’s team asked Smith to feature on a remix of the song. Famm alleged that “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.”
The Guardian has contacted Haven for comment.
I Run has since been re-recorded with new vocals by Kaitlin Aragon, and last week charted at No 37 in the UK. But Famm believes the new top line was still made using AI models trained on Smith’s catalogue.
“Haven and his team have now replaced the AI vocal with a real human vocal, although we still believe both versions of the track infringe on Jorja’s rights and unfairly take advantage of the work of all the songwriters with whom she collaborates,” Famm wrote in a statement posted to Instagram.
It said that if it was successful in establishing that AI was involved in the track’s creation and won a share of the song, they would “seek to allocate each of Jorja’s cowriters with a pro-rata share. This allocation would be based on the percentage 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.”
Famm alleged that the song initially persisted on streaming and social media platforms as a result of it having four separate distributors who “aggressively” marketed the song, “circumventing usual takedown procedures”.
Spotify stated that it detected the impersonation, removed the song and had not paid out any royalties. Billboard also said that it reserved the right to remove titles known to be involved in active legal disputes related to copyright infringements.
Famm accused Haven and their label counterparts of relying on “public confusion as a key part of the marketing strategy … 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.”
There is further confusion in that a young female musician who has made music under the name Haven for years has been targeted by commenters accusing her of being AI as a result of sharing a name with the newer AI act. “Story time of how I got caught up in this AI mess,” she wrote in an Instagram video caption – and released her own “Human Haven” cover version of I Run. Whether the 90s Cornish band Haven will weigh in remains to be seen.
“This isn’t about Jorja,” Famm said. “It’s bigger than one artist or one song.”
Famm called for AI-generated music to 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.”
It highlighted the plight of creators as “collateral damage in the race by governments and corporations towards AI dominance … 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.”
In mid-November, three AI-generated songs topped charts around the world. Walk My Walk and Livin’ on Borrowed Time by the outfit Breaking Rust topped Spotify’s US Viral 50 songs. A Dutch song, We Say No, No, No to an Asylum Seekers’ Centre, an anti-migrant anthem by JW “Broken Veteran”, also topped Spotify’s global viral chart. In July, the Velvet Sundown went viral, amassing more than 1m Spotify plays in a matter of weeks, only to be revealed as an entirely AI confection.
