Australia’s recorded music industry will bar tracks wholly generated by artificial intelligence from official charts as burgeoning generative technologies threaten artists’ livelihoods, a representative said yesterday.

The crackdown, according to an AP report from Melbourne yesterday, comes as a variation of Madonna’s (in the picture) pop hit ‘Like a Prayer’ created by an Australian producer using AI-generated vocals and drums has spent 16 weeks in the Australian Top 20, stoking debate about generative AI’s place in music.

It peaked at number two on the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA)’s Top 20 Australian singles chart in May and remained in fourth place yesterday.

Wholly AI-generated tracks will be banned from the ARIA charts from Monday next week, but some AI-assisted music will remain eligible, an ARIA statement said.

Tracks can be eligible only if “humans wrote the song and performed the lead vocal and the primary instruments,” among other requirements, the statement said.

AI-generated music would also be ineligible for the Australian industry’s prestigious ARIA awards.

ARIA chief executive Annabelle Herd said: “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.”

Eligible music must also be produced using legal AI services. Music was appearing on streaming services that had apparently been developed with AI tools trained on artists’ music without authorization.

The Australian rules are in step with new principles released in July by the London-based International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. (Image of Madonna courtesy her Instagram account)