{"id":868058,"date":"2026-08-25T16:50:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T16:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/868058\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T16:50:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T16:50:30","slug":"aria-ai-music-policy-changes-new-rules-dont-go-far-enough-musicians-experts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/868058\/","title":{"rendered":"ARIA AI music policy changes: New rules don\u2019t go far enough, musicians, experts say"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kayla<\/p>\n

August 25, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm<\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

AAA<\/p>\n

The organisation in charge of Australia\u2019s pop music charts has announced a ban on tunes made wholly by AI, but some say it does not go far enough to protect local music.<\/p>\n

The Australian Recording Industry Association will allow AI-assisted songs that have lead vocals, lyrics and primary instruments created and performed by humans to continue to top charts. Meanwhile, tunes \u201csubstantially\u201d made using AI will not be allowed.<\/p>\n

\"ARIAARIA has issued new rules on AI songs.Aresna Villanueva<\/p>\n

ARIA attracted criticism after an AI cover of Madonna\u2019s hit 1989 song Like a Prayer by Josh Fawaz began topping its chart<\/a> in May. The song\u2019s credits on Spotify state that it uses generative AI for vocals and drums.<\/p>\n

It peaked at No.2 at the time of release and has spent 16 weeks in the top 10. As of August 24, the song sits at No.4 on the chart. The track also appears on commercial radio as an Australian song, which helps stations fulfil obligations to promote 25 per cent Australian music \u2013 without paying the royalties.<\/p>\n

ARIA chief executive Annabelle Herd said while her association \u201ccan\u2019t control what people listen to\u201d, the new policy was made to ensure that the tunes that appear on the charts are \u201csubstantially human-made\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also don\u2019t want to be celebrating or encouraging tracks that are recorded using AI tools that have stolen music to train their AI systems,\u201d Herd said.<\/p>\n

ARIA\u2019s three new categoriesAI-generated: Not eligibleGenerative AI produced the recording, or the primary part of its creative elements. A lead vocal or a key instrumental performance generated by AI puts a recording here.AI-assisted: Eligible Humans wrote the song and performed the lead vocal and the primary instruments. Generative AI did something minor on top of that.AI in production: EligibleAI mastering, AI drum machines, stem separation, reverb or instrument patches that a person then plays are considered OK.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fine to use AI in your music creation \u2026 We\u2019re not saying that that is going to be banned from the chart but we\u2019re saying that tracks that are not substantially human [will be banned].\u201d<\/p>\n

The singer-songwriter Jack River, whose real name is Holly Rankin, said the changes were an important step for Australia\u2019s music industry and had opened up a conversation about how \u201chuman\u201d music can be in an era of AI.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"James<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI really back it because it means that we\u2019re putting human artistry and human creativity first,\u201d Rankin said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody wants to go and see an AI agent performing at Groovin\u2019 the Moo.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do need to have a conversation about what constitutes music, human-created music, and it\u2019s a very strange reality we\u2019re living in \u2026 I think we have that responsibility as artists to tell audiences what\u2019s in our [music]. And our peak body needs to protect the real, human music economy behind this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Violinist James Steendam, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) union\u2019s federal president of musicians, said that while ARIA\u2019s announcement was a step in the right direction for artists, theft of their work and creative output by AI companies continued \u201cunabated, and this voluntary code of practice will not stop that\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ARIA Charts Code of Practice is voluntary, so can only go so far \u2026 MEAA is calling on the federal government to step in and mandate labelling of AI-generated content across music and the creative sector,\u201d said Steendam, who believes he was replaced by a synthesising technology in musical theatre production The Lion King<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When filling out the survey to submit a song to ARIA, artists will now have to tick a box stating whether they\u2019ve used AI in the track, and whether it was AI-generated or AI-assisted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe range of AI-assisted actions permitted is too broad and includes synthesising backing vocals, strings, brass and other instruments. This undercuts session musicians or non-featured artists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OliviaOlivia Dean performs at the ARIA Awards in 2025.Getty Images<\/p>\n

In March, a North Carolina man pleaded guilty to defrauding<\/a> music streaming platforms and musicians out of millions in royalties by flooding them with thousands of AI-generated songs and later using \u201cbots\u201d to boost licensing numbers.<\/p>\n

In July, Spotify announced it was being inundated with AI-generated songs, and that it had removed more than 75 million spam tracks.<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Article\"Children\u2019s<\/a><\/p>\n

Toby Walsh, the chief scientist of UNSW Sydney\u2019s AI Institute, said ARIA had stopped short of implementing licensing guidelines created by the global recording industry association, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).<\/p>\n

In July, ARIA welcomed a new labelling system created by the IFPI<\/a> and other global music stakeholders. In its announcement on Tuesday the association stated that it had updated the ARIA Charts Code of Practice to include generative AI, following the global principles published <\/a>this year<\/a> by the IFPI<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad they\u2019ve got a policy. I\u2019m somewhat surprised, a little disappointed that they haven\u2019t gone with the [full] IFPI \u2013 the international guidelines that have been drawn up that they seem to have approved earlier,\u201d Walsh said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe IFPI thought it was important that people were using AI-generated content, and so on, to manipulate the streaming algorithms, and why [ARIA] also thought that it wasn\u2019t worth adding that, adding a provision to try and outlaw that or prevent that happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walsh says the licensing component was important to embed in ARIA\u2019s code as it puts pressure on AI companies developing tools to license content.<\/p>\n

\"MattMatt Golding <\/p>\n

\u201cIt will make content that\u2019s not generated without that licensing less valuable because it won\u2019t be going up the charts, the ARIA charts, and therefore won\u2019t be getting the same attention as content that is generated with that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if it\u2019s only psychological, even if it\u2019s only a case of showing where their support is, even if it had no material impact upon the AI companies, I would still support the idea that they should be backing artists \u2026 [ARIA] had an opportunity to make a statement,\u201d Walsh said.<\/p>\n

Asked if ARIA would adopt the IFPI\u2019s guidelines on AI tools and licensed content, Herd said: \u201cWe definitely support that in principle, and we have provisions in our code that include unlawful activity, unlawful tracks, unlawful tools. If we become aware of something like that then we can act on that as well\u201d.<\/p>\n

Steendam said artists and musicians currently have no share in the licensing arrangements between record labels and AI companies, \u201cnor any right to refuse for their work to be used in this way\u201d.<\/p>\n

The changes take effect in the ARIA charts from Monday, August 31.<\/p>\n

Must-see movies, interviews and all the latest from the world of film delivered to your inbox. Sign up for our Screening Room newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n

Save<\/p>\n

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n

Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n

\"KaylaKayla Olaya<\/a> is a culture reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August 25, 2026 \u2014 7:30pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-868058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}