<\/p>\n
A live performance from Anthrax. Photo Credit: Sven Mandel<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Ticked-off superfans promptly lambasted<\/a> the unauthorized release in social posts, and metal mags rather unsurprisingly took aim at the machine-made audio from there. However, one needn\u2019t be an Anthrax diehard to pick up on the stylistic departure from the act\u2019s genuine projects.<\/p>\n Still live on YouTube (albeit not as part of Anthrax\u2019s account) but not Spotify<\/a>, the electronic effort in question, Crazy Sheep<\/em>, is certainly true to its title. In the titular track, that sheep\u2019s baa <\/em>calls out reliably across nearly six minutes of painful listening, which actually marks a departure from the generic minute-long AI uploads of old<\/a>.<\/p>\n For now \u2013 and with Spotify willing<\/a> to pause new releases on AI \u201cartist\u201d profiles benefiting from too much momentum for comfort \u2013 the playbook<\/a> appears to revolve around putting fake songs on real acts\u2019 pages, scoring pre-takedown streams, and repeating.<\/p>\n Of course, the most readily available solution is banning AI audio altogether \u2013 or, at a minimum, tagging<\/a> the relevant media accordingly before isolating it from proper music made by professionals.<\/p>\n But to state the obvious, this outcome isn\u2019t yet a reality; Deezer is seemingly alone in leading<\/a> the AI-tagging charge. As such, the focus naturally shifts to who exactly is pocketing royalties with artificial intelligence works plastered on actual artists\u2019 pages.<\/p>\n Several things jump out here. Most immediately, Diablo\/World Wild has been \u201cmaking\u201d a ton of AI audio for a while. Next, the entities haven\u2019t exclusively targeted Anthrax with fake music; works falsely attributed to deceased pianist Eddie Palmieri and others have apparently been streaming for months.<\/p>\n Building on that point, the AI-track issue isn\u2019t solely affecting Spotify. (Nevertheless, the presence of bootleg songs on big-name artist profiles raises more questions yet. A key one: If the service can\u2019t stop the problem in its tracks, is encouraging billions of user comments and messages<\/a> a good idea from a moderation perspective?)<\/p>\n To be sure, Apple Music<\/a> and YouTube<\/a> are also displaying the fake Diablo\/World Wild Palmieri album, A Contraluz<\/em>. And the mess doesn\u2019t end there, either.<\/p>\n Just scratching the surface here, the fake album, attached to a distinct profile on Spotify, has multiple \u201cartist\u201d features, and the pages are racking up streams as well. Plus, both Crazy Sheep <\/em>and A Contraluz <\/em>were provided to YouTube by self-billed \u201cfull-service YouTube Agency and multi-channel network\u201d Age Media, the descriptions show.<\/p>\n DMN reached out to Amsterdam-based Age Media for comment but didn\u2019t immediately receive a response.<\/p>\n <\/div>\nAnd as many know, there\u2019s more to those uploads\u2019 changes than longer durations and relative quality improvements.<\/h4>\n
At least when it comes to Crazy Sheep<\/em>, we needn\u2019t look far to find a top-level answer. On YouTube, the uploads are attributed to a \u201clabel\u201d called Diablo Music (World Wild Waves), which itself has a lengthy credits page<\/a> on AI music generator Muso.<\/h4>\n