Written in partnership with Sidon Farris
What at first felt like abstract parlor tricks by confused machines and their programmers has quickly turned into a generation-defining event, a technological micro-singularity throughout popular culture. The rise of AI-generated music has created digital shockwaves of all forms – positive, damaging, and downright controversial. Social media, especially TikTok, has played a pivotal role in popularizing fan-made content of popular artists, showcasing a broad spectrum of creativity. This includes original songs like ‘Heart on My Sleeve’ by ghostwriter977, channeling the styles of Drake and The Weeknd, as well as covers of songs by AI-generated artists, such as Drake ‘covering’ Ice Spice and Ariana Grande ‘covering’ Doechii. The list continues, growing daily and leaving everyone in and out of the industry scrambling for a solution.
While some content creators have used the power of AI to generate original works, and many others have used these tools to create hilarious parodies and remixes, there remains the ever-growing concern of the gray, hazy ethics surrounding its impact in an artist’s identity, brand and even their personal lives. Is it ok to use someone’s image without their consent? Is it okay to have deceased artists cover Disney? Or to make Donald Trump sing Coldplay? In the past week, AI “deepfakes” of Taylor Swift cropped up through social media, sparking a raging debate about the morality and ethics of computer-generated content. She was, of course, not the first one, nor will she be the last victim of these Artificial illustrators and their prompts. The industry, media, and masses are searching for a healthy response to this rising controversy.
This is where Hemish Gholkar can come into the picture…
Hemish Gholkar, a rising entrepreneur and digital trailblazer, embarked on his journey in media innovation and business leadership at 17. He founded Mofinity Management, a platform dedicated to managing, representing, and nurturing top-tier creators. Subsequently, he established Happy Studios, specializing in Gen-Z influencer marketing and achieving viral success with campaigns for artists like Salem Ilese and Willow Smith. Under his guidance, Happy Studios founded Reign Talent, representing over 100 creators with a collective reach exceeding 500 million users. Following significant success, Reign Talent merged into the London-based Apex Creators agency in 2023, with Hemish setting his sights on new digital horizons.
We sat down with Hemish to hear his refreshing thoughts on AI-augmented music, showing us the silver lining to this industry disruptor.
LAW: Let’s start with just how quickly AI-generated music has exploded. What’s making creators and fans so engaged with and excited by it?
HG: Social media has amplified the popularity of making and consuming it. I think at. First, many people dismiss these AI covers or ‘new’ tracks as gimmicks, but then a ‘good’ one comes along, disrupting everyone’s assumptions. People get shocked and ask themselves, ‘How could AI make something this good?’
The best example is “Heart on My Sleeve” by ghostwriter977, using vocals from Drake and The Weeknd. It completely shocked everyone – from the beginning, the creator marketed it as a purely AI song, not an upcoming song or studio demo leak. It doesn’t just sound like their voices; it’s a catchy song with a good beat. TikTok made the sound explode in popularity; it’s hard to fully gauge its reach as it was removed across platforms under copyright strikes, but it got millions of streams, and even Drake responded to it.
LAW: The Drake AI song encapsulates many industry fears about AI-generated music. Isn’t this content harmful for artists and fans alike?
HG: Of course, it’s a worrying trend from an artist’s perspective. In some ways, they don’t have full agency over their voice or style – it could feel like a freak bit from a dystopian movie. Many people probably think they’re listening to a leaked song, but some teenager in New York is making AI hits from his bedroom. But many people in the industry aren’t discussing AI-augmented music’s positives.
We got a new Beatles song – “Now and I” just last year. That was only possible because the studio used AI to extricate John Lennon’s vocals from a lost demo recording, remaster it, and create a genuinely artistic effort. It’s not the same as what ghostwriter977 and countless others do, but it shows that AI can work with – not against – artists in the industry. Drake and The Weeknd, like most artists who’re getting fan-made AI tracks, Drake and The Weeknd are honestly too successful for these AI tracks to hurt them.
LAW: It’s refreshing to hear a more optimistic take on this rise of AI music. How else can the industry use it positively without compromising artists’ integrity?
HG: One thing many people are neglecting is just how powerful AI covers can be for promoting a new record. Look at @lalals_us on TikTok – they’ve generated millions of views just through these covers. I could foresee a strategy where an agency takes a record moving heavily on the platform, runs it through these accounts, and lets fans hear how other artists might ‘sing’ on the record or flip its style. It would get millions of views and implicitly tell the users (and any industry people watching) that the sound is so popular and extensive that fans are making AI covers. That would implicitly validate its success, making it even more successful and creating a positive feedback loop.
I have even seen more gimmicky covers get great success, using the voices of people like SpongeBob, Yoda, or Peter Griffin. While funny and harmless, it still creates genuine popularity for the actual song and grows the artist’s potential audience. Ultimately, it could be used as an out-of-the-box marketing tool for a record, and artists need to harness that.
LAW: That’s a uniquely positive take on AI covers and marketing, the kind of unconventional strategy the industry may need. But what about its impact behind the scenes? How can AI impact the management industry?
HG: The management industry is complex – I could see fully automated aspects, but many areas need that human touch. Managing artists themselves requires a lot of knowledge and personal connection, built up over years of interacting and growing together, knowing their strengths and flaws; I can’t see a meaningful way of AI overtaking the human connection there. But the newer generation of social media managers, whose job can be as simple as receiving a promotion for a client, changing the copy to tailor it towards the creator slightly, and then invoicing both parties? That is most definitely a process that could be automated, cutting out the middleman and streamlining the creator-client relationship.
Ultimately, though, most management is about fostering connections and relationships. Building trust with anyone you’re working with, creating friendships, and networking in person would be best. That’s something I don’t think AI can ever truly replicate. We need to harness these new technologies as a force for good, but we can’t forget the human touch that makes the artistry, the marketing, and the creators genuinely authentic.
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