24 Apr 2023
If you’re into music and have been scrolling through TikTok recently, you will almost certainly have heard Drake and The Weeknd’s new song, Heart on My Sleeve, that wasn’t written or even performed by them at all. In this blog we’ll be digesting why this new AI-generated song by ‘Ghostwriter’ is an almost perfect example of how AI can be used to rapidly increase the brand awareness of small creators and businesses.
To bring you up to speed, this song was released this month and enabled the creator to amass over 10 million views on TikTok and 629,000 listens on Spotify in under a week (CNBC, 2023). That’s a level of virality that most up-and-coming songwriters could only dream of, and this is the magic of AI. We now live in a world in which creators can artificially generate vocals from artists that sound perfect on any music they write.
AI Music and Marketing
So how can digital marketers use AI, and more importantly, what are the risks?
The first thing to establish is the legislation of AI art. You are currently unable to copyright any AI art that is generated purely by artificial intelligence. This is because it is created by a computer’s algorithm rather than by a human, there are exceptions to this if data inputted into the algorithm to create AI art contains copyrighted material etc. It is important to look into this before you begin!
Another thing to consider is to make sure that AI does not directly emulate a well-known artist but rather takes inspiration from their voice instead with some unique aspects that make it distinctly different from the original artist. Ghostwriter’s content has since been taken down across Apple Music, Spotify and Deezer after criticism from Universal Music Group saying “These instances demonstrate why platforms have a fundamental legal and ethical responsibility to prevent the use of their services in ways that harm artists” – AI music clearly needs to be used with caution.
It is worth considering how creators on YouTube use copyrighted material as an opportunity for utilising AI. On this platform it is typical for YouTubers to use short clips to enhance their content but not focus on it. YouTube deems this acceptable explaining the copyrighted material must be repurposed, such as the video being a reaction to the material or only including the material for a short period to complement other content.
What are the advantages of AI?
We can see that AI can be used to draw attention from a wide audience to small creators or businesses which can create huge opportunities. With the quality of AI expected to continue to improve we expect the opportunities to increase significantly.
For example, there is the opportunity for a smaller ecommerce businesses to generate AI photography/videography with AI generated music which could be used for a large scale social campaign. This would save £1,000s on photography shoots and music licensing ensuring budget could be focused on driving reach and conversions.
Despite AI technology developing in leaps in bounds, we still recommend a very strict quality assurance process to ensure content aligns with brand guidelines and strategy.
What can we conclude?
We must ultimately recognise how complex the nature of this AI is and that whilst it is a great tool for carrying out tasks, it cannot provide the critical thinking necessary for implementing material like this into the digital landscape. Topics like the use of AI for marketing purposes require professionals that understand the guidelines in numerous parts of the industry and innovative ways to create conversions through the use of AI.
Events like this highlight that AI is still lacking some crucial features for the end user. Whilst AI gives you the capability to do some great stuff, it lacks the expertise and critical thinking of experts in an industry that can notice clear issues. The technology is simply completing a task asked by a user, but unlike a human, it doesn’t have the intuition to manage the rest of the process like distribution, PR, and marketing (Critical Thinking Secrets, 2023).
Our Paid Social team are experts on advising upon and devising strategies utilising the latest technology. If you are seeking success from your Paid Social campaigns, contact our team of experts today to transform your campaigns.
