ARIA Bans Fully AI-Generated Songs From Australia’s Official Music Charts
Australia’s recorded music industry has announced that songs created wholly by artificial intelligence will be excluded from the country’s official music charts, in a move industry leaders say is designed to protect what they describe as the human nature of artistry amid rapidly advancing generative AI technology.
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) confirmed the new rules will take effect this week, barring “wholly AI-generated” tracks from appearing on ARIA’s official charts. Under the updated ARIA Charts Code of Practice, a recording will only remain eligible if it is considered substantially human-made, meaning humans must have written the song and performed both the lead vocal and the primary instruments, among other requirements. Tracks that use AI in a more limited, supporting capacity will still be permitted to chart. AI-generated music will also be ineligible for consideration at the industry’s prestigious annual ARIA Music Awards under the new framework.
To help distinguish between different levels of AI involvement, ARIA said it would rely on a labelling system introduced last month by a coalition of music industry organisations. Under that system, tracks are classified as “AI-Generated” if artificial intelligence was used to create the entirety or the primary portion of a recording’s creative elements, or as “AI-Assisted” if the technology was used only to support some expressive elements, with human contribution still forming the core of the work.
The decision follows weeks of scrutiny surrounding a cover of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer,” produced by Queensland-based DJ and producer Josh Fawaz using AI-generated vocals and drums. The track became one of the most-played songs on Australian radio and spent 16 weeks in the ARIA top 20, peaking at number two on the singles chart in May and remaining as high as fourth place by late August. Its success prompted significant criticism from figures across the Australian music industry, many of whom argued that generative AI had played too central a role in the recording for it to be considered eligible for chart recognition. An ARIA spokesperson indicated that, under the new International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) framework the local rules are aligned with, music featuring AI-generated lead vocals or key instrumentals would likely be disqualified, suggesting Fawaz’s track may no longer meet the criteria going forward.
ARIA chief executive Annabelle Herd said the changes reflect the organisation’s intent to remain responsive to a rapidly evolving space while continuing to promote the human nature of artistry. She said the new rules give everyone releasing music in Australia a clear standard to work toward, and called on other parties involved in deciding which music is played and promoted to Australian audiences, particularly radio broadcasters, to support human artistry by adopting similar changes to their own codes of practice. Herd added that while the ARIA charts should evolve to reflect legitimate uses of AI in music-making, they should not reward output generated wholesale by technology built on other artists’ work without authorisation.
The Australian rules mirror broader international guidelines released in July by the London-based IFPI, which represents the global recording industry and has stated that, to qualify for official charts internationally, a track must be substantially human-made. The IFPI has also expressed concern more broadly about AI models trained on artists’ recordings without proper authorisation from rights holders.
The move comes against the backdrop of a wider standoff between creative industries and AI companies, many of which have built their technology using copyrighted material without securing permission from artists or rights holders. Speaking at the University of Sydney, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addressed the broader issue, saying a future government framework would aim to protect the rights of musicians and other creators. He said Australian writers, musicians, artists and journalists must retain ownership and control of their work, stressing that a creative work is an artist’s property and that no company should be permitted to use Australian books, music, art or news to build or train AI systems without the creator’s consent.
Streaming platforms have also begun responding to the growing presence of AI in music. Spotify has said it will introduce an “AI Persona” badge to clearly identify artist profiles that are AI-generated rather than real people, and has pledged to exclude such personas from its recommendation algorithms by default, though the badge applies only to the identity behind an artist profile rather than indicating whether AI was used in producing a specific recording. Separately, a platform executive told Billboard earlier this year that more than one-third of new uploads to Apple Music are now entirely created using AI, underscoring how quickly the technology has become embedded in the broader music industry.
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