03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
The Grammys Chief on How AI Will Change Music
An AI-generated song using fake vocals from Drake and the Weeknd went viral two years ago, racking up millions of listens across Spotify, YouTube and TikTok before being removed. The episode rattled the music business, demonstrating how the rapidly progressing technology could upend long-held standards, protections and processes.
Since then, the music industry has been grappling with how to use AI to generate growth while battling with tech giants who say they should be able to freely train their models on record companies' vast intellectual property. Harvey Mason Jr., chief executive of the Recording Academy, which presents the Grammy Awards, is among those on the front lines as the industry pushes for legislation aimed at protecting artists from having their voices, images and likenesses used in AI-generated digital replicas without their consent.
Mason, a songwriter and producer who has worked with Whitney Houston, Beyoncé and Justin Bieber and written music for hit movies, looks toward the future both as a music executive and a musician. 'AI's here; it's not going anywhere,' Mason says. 'At the end of the day, we have to make stuff that the computer can't make.'
He spoke with The Wall Street Journal about his hopes and fears for AI in the record business.
