Australia’s biggest music chart is drawing a line between musicians who use AI and AI that makes the music for them.
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) has updated its Charts Code of Practice to require eligible recordings to be “substantially human made.” The new rules take effect with the chart dated Aug. 31 and published Aug. 28.
ARIA is not banning generative AI outright. Artists can still use AI in production and for secondary creative elements, but humans must remain responsible for core parts of the recording, including songwriting, lead
What is excluded is a recording where AI creates the primary creative elements, such as a lead vocal, key instrumental performance or an entire song generated from a prompt.
A Madonna cover helped spark the debate
The policy arrives after an AI-heavy cover of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” by Australian DJ Josh Fawaz became a chart success.
The track, which used AI-generated vocals and drums, climbed as high as No. 2 on ARIA’s overall Australian singles chart and spent weeks among the country’s top songs. Spotify credits were later updated to disclose its AI use. BBC reported that the song had also attracted significant streaming and radio exposure.
ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd said the organization wants to preserve space for artists using new technology while drawing a boundary around fully synthetic recordings.
“Artists already use AI tools in their work, the charts can and should evolve to keep room for that, but music generated wholesale by services built on artists’ recordings is a different matter,” Herd said, according to the BBC.
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What it means going forward
The new system relies heavily on disclosure. Every release submitted to the ARIA survey must include a declaration about generative AI use.
For working musicians, little changes if AI stays a background tool. For acts building songs largely through generative platforms, Australia’s charts are now closed to those recordings, and ARIA can retroactively strip chart positions or claw back a No. 1 award if a track is later found ineligible.
Albums will be assessed track by track, meaning an ineligible song will not count toward the release.
ARIA’s decision could also become a test case for music charts elsewhere. Billboard is already testing AI-detection technology with data provider Luminate, suggesting chart operators are beginning to confront the same question Australia has now answered: how much of a song can be generated by AI before it stops qualifying as human-made music?
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