AI slop tops Billboard and Spotify charts as synthetic music spreads
Three songs generated by artificial intelligence topped music charts this week, reaching the highest spots on Spotify and Billboard charts.Walk My Walk and Livin’ on Borrowed Time by the outfit Breaking Rust topped Spotify’s “Viral 50” songs in the US, which documents the “most viral tracks right now” on a daily basis, according to the streaming service.A Dutch song, We Say No, No, No to an Asylum Center, an anti-migrant anthem by JW “Broken Veteran” that protests against the creation of new asylum centers, took the top position in Spotify’s global version of the viral chart around the same time.Breaking Rust also appeared in the top five on the global chart.“You can kick rocks if you don’t like how I talk,” reads a lyric from Walk My Walk, a seeming double entendre challenging those opposed to AI-generated music.
Days after its ascent up the charts, the Dutch song disappeared from Spotify and YouTube, as did Broken Veteran’s other music.Spotify told the Dutch outlet NU.nl that the company had not removed the music, the owners of the song rights had.Broken Veteran told the outlet that he did not know why his music had disappeared and that he was investigating, hoping to return it soon.In an email to the Guardian, Broken Veteran, who declined to give his real name, said that he saw AI as “just another tool for expression, particularly valuable for people like me who have something to say but lack traditional musical training”, adding that the technology had “democratized music creation”.
He claimed his songs “express frustration with governmental policies, not with migrants as individuals”,For three weeks, Walk My Walk has led Billboard’s “Country Digital Song Sales” chart, which measures downloads and digital purchases,The list is minor in comparison to Billboard’s “Hot Country Songs” or “Top Country Albums”, which measure a broader range of signals of success,Breaking Rust did not respond to a request for comment,These three songs are part of a flood of AI-generated music that has come to saturate streaming platforms.
A study published on Wednesday by the streaming app Deezer estimates that 50,000 AI-generated songs are uploaded to the platform every day – 34% of all the music submitted.Walk My Walk and We Say No, No, No to an Asylum Center, aren’t the first AI-generated songs to reach a mass audience.Over the summer, AI-generated songs from a group going by the name Velvet Sundown amassed over a million streams on Spotify, in what one member later described as an “art hoax”.Ed Newton-Rex, a musician and the founder of a non-profit that certifies generative AI companies’ data training practices as fair to artists, says that the sheer number of AI-generated songs now online is a key factor driving the ascent of a few AI-generated hits.“It’s part of the very rapid trend of AI music gaining in popularity essentially because it’s spreading in volume,” he said.
“What you have here is 50,000 tracks a day that are competing with human musicians,You have a new, hyperscalable competitor and, moreover, this competitor that was built by exploitation,”AI music has improved in quality from its early, clanking days,As part of its study, Deezer surveyed 9,000 people in eight countries and found that 97% could not distinguish between AI-generated music and human-written music,“There’s no denying it.
I think it’s fair to say you can’t distinguish the best AI music from human-composed music now,” Newton-Rex said.Sign up to TechScapeA weekly dive in to how technology is shaping our livesafter newsletter promotionHuman-level quality is not the only reason for the success of AI-generated tracks on Spotify.As with many parts of the AI slop economy, there are a set of tools and platforms out there that enable AI music to spread easily – and sub-communities of users eager to share tips to game the system.Jack Righteous, a blog on AI content creation, recommends that its followers generate “streams of passive income” using a music distribution service called DistroKid, which funnels royalties to music creators every time their AI tracks are streamed on YouTube, Spotify or TikTok.DistroKid is part of an ecosystem of online music distribution services, such as Amuse, Landr and CDBaby, which help creators place their music on major platforms like YouTube and Spotify.
These services have varied policies on AI-generated content, and blogs describe DistroKid’s as “more lenient”,Several hits from Breaking Rust, including Livin’ on Borrowed Time and Resilient, appear to be distributed by DistroKid,“Basically every piece of AI music you see isn’t distributed by a regular label,They’re made by a person in their bedroom and uploaded to these distribution sites,” said Chris Dalla Riva, author of the book Uncharted Territory, on the data behind music virality,When reached for comment, Spotify pointed to its policy on AI-generated tracks.
Trump’s targeting of alleged drug vessels strains UK-US intelligence ties
It is an intelligence relationship that predates even the Five Eyes: the UKUSA alliance that began, naturally enough, in secret in 1946. But this week the strain of trying to be the closest security ally to a freewheeling White House has begun to show.Britain, it emerged, had quietly suspended intelligence cooperation with the US in the Caribbean because London does not consider the deadly US military campaign against ships accused of drug trafficking to be in line with international law.That amounts to an extraordinary open fissure in a close working relationship at a time when the US is increasing its military buildup, expanding its controversial campaign in the region with an attempt to threaten Venezuela.“I’m not sure if there is a previous example of this happening in the public domain
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The last decade in British politics has been marked by instability and fragmentation, with six prime ministers in ten years, and Nigel Farage’s Reform party now leading in the polls.A study this month from King’s College London and Ipsos found that 84 percent of people now say the UK feels divided, up from 74 percent in 2020.Polling on voter intention shows a fracturing of the political landscape as people abandon two-party politics – with Reform now averaging 31 percent, Labour 18 percent, the Conservatives 16 percent, Green Party 14 percent and Liberal Democrats 12 percent.We want to hear from Brits living abroad. How do you think UK politics has changed since you left the country? Does anything surprise you about events in the UK? How does living abroad shape your views on UK politics? Do you have concerns?You can tell us about viewing UK politics from abroad herePlease include as much detail as possible
Your Party receives ‘small portion’ of withheld supporters’ donations
The leftwing Your Party, set up by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, is embroiled in another public row over donations to the party.A statement from Corbyn along with Shockat Adam MP, Adnan Hussain MP, Ayoub Khan MP and Iqbal Mohamed MP states that hundreds of thousands of pounds were donated to the party “by supporters in good faith, but have since remained beyond its reach”, which they describe as being “extremely frustrating and disheartening”.It added a “small portion” of the funds was transferred to the party on Thursday which they said was “insufficient” and they will continue to pursue the immediate transfer of all the money donated.The statement posted on X by the independent alliance of MPs was not signed by Sultana and comes days after the Guardian reported on the former Labour MP and Corbyn’s quarrel over hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations.Sultana offered to transfer £600,000 from a company the party’s founders set up earlier this year, only to be rebuffed by allies of the former Labour leader who accused her of playing “political games” with supporters’ money
Starmer stands by McSweeney and says he has been ‘assured no briefings against ministers done from No 10’ – as it happened
Keir Starmer has said he “of course” retains full confidence in his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, PA Media reports.I will post the full quote shortly.At PMQs yesterday Starmer dodged a question about whether he had full confidence in McSweeney, although No 10 subsequently said he did.Some ministers and MPs want to see McSweeney sacked.We’re closing this blog now, here’s a summary of the day’s main developments:The prime minister has attempted to draw a line under the briefing row, saying he has “been assured that no briefing against ministers was done from No 10” and that he has “full confidence” in his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeneyWes Streeting, the health secretary, has said that he doesn’t know and doesn’t care whether Starmer is trying to identify the No 10 figure briefing against him
Starmer defies calls to sack chief of staff, claiming briefing didn’t come from No 10
Keir Starmer has attempted to draw a line under extraordinary briefings by his allies that No 10 feared Wes Streeting could launch a leadership coup, insisting he had been reassured it “didn’t come from Downing Street”.The prime minister gathered his senior staff to stress that briefings against cabinet ministers were “unacceptable” after apologising to Streeting for what had happened on Wednesday.However, his spokesperson said Starmer also accepted assurances that No 10 staff had not briefed against Streeting and that he stood by his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.Since the furore over No 10’s fears about a leadership challenge from Streeting, first revealed by the Guardian on Tuesday, there had been calls from Labour MPs for McSweeney’s resignation.One senior Labour source described McSweeney as “the great survivor” after the Downing Street gathering
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AI slop tops Billboard and Spotify charts as synthetic music spreads
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