Should a Song Created with A.I. be Eligible for a Grammy?

With the help of A.I., "Heart on My Sleeve" took the internet by storm a few months ago. Ghostwriter, the man behind the track, thinks it should be able to win a Grammy.

A few months ago, a “collaboration” between Drake and The Weeknd went viral around the internet. I put the word “collaboration” in quotes because neither Drake nor The Weeknd were involved in the song. It was produced by a shadowy figure named Ghostwriter. He was able to use artificial intelligence-powered technology to perfectly imitate both pop stars.

Last week, Ghostwriter released another song, along with announcing that he would be submitting his Drake-Weeknd collab for Grammy consideration. Harvey Mason Jr., the chief executive of the Recording Academy - the organization that puts on the Grammys - said that the song would be eligible for nomination: “As far as the creative side, it’s absolutely eligible because it was written by a human”. A few days later, Mason Jr. walked back his statement in a video on Instagram. His reasoning was that the vocals were not legally cleared by the artists and the song was not commercially available.

We’ve talked about the future of A.I. and music in this newsletter before, but Mason Jr.’s flip-flopping raises some important questions. This week, I want to weigh in on those prickly questions.

A.I. Wears Its Heart on Its Sleeve

I’m going to present you with five scenarios. For each, I want you to decide if the song described should be eligible for a Grammy.

1. “Heart on My Sleeve” was written and produced by Ghostwriter. Drake and The Weeknd both performed vocals on the song. The song was released as “Heart on My Sleeve” by Drake & The Weeknd.

2. “Heart on My Sleeve” was written and produced by Ghostwriter. Drake and The Weeknd both have no interest in the song. Ghostwriter hires an impersonator of each artist and releases the song as “Heart on My Sleeve” by Drake & The Weeknd.

3. “Heart on My Sleeve” was written and produced by Ghostwriter. Drake and The Weeknd both have no interest in the song. Ghostwriter hires an impersonator of each artist and releases the song as “Heart on My Sleeve” by Ghostwriter.

4. “Heart on My Sleeve” was written and produced by Ghostwriter. Drake and The Weeknd both have no interest in the song. Ghostwriter performs the vocal himself, but uses A.I. technology to make his voice sound like Drake and the Weeknd. He releases the song as “Heart on My Sleeve” by Drake & The Weeknd.

5. “Heart on My Sleeve” was written and produced by Ghostwriter. Drake and The Weeknd both have no interest in the song. Ghostwriter performs the vocal himself, but uses A.I. technology to make his voice sound like Drake and the Weeknd. He releases the song as “Heart on My Sleeve” by Ghostwriter.

In each of these scenarios, “Heart on My Sleeve” is written and produced by Ghostwriter. The differences are twofold: how he records the vocals and how he credits the artists. Given these differences, I think items (1), (3), and (5) should be Grammy-eligible. Let me explain why.