That AI-generated track featuring Drake and The Weeknd is officially “not eligible” for a Grammy.
The track, called "Heart on My Sleeve," uses AI-generated voices for the performers and lyrics that were written by its creator, who goes by “Ghostwriter.” Variety reported earlier this week that the AI-generated track would be eligible for a Grammy, quoting Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr., who also said in an interview with The New York Times that the song is "absolutely eligible because it was written by a human.”
The paper confirmed with a representative for Ghostwriter that the song was submitted for both “Best Rap Song” as well as “Song of the Year,” which are awards traditionally given to a song’s writer rather than its performer.
In its article, Variety notes that Grammy rules require a song to be distributed through “generation distribution,” specifically “the broad release of a recording, available nationwide via brick-and-mortar stores, third-party online retailers, and/or streaming services.” The fact that the song was only uploaded to YouTube and flagged by Universal Music shortly after suggests that the track might not meet that requirement.
Now it seems like Mason is backtracking on the comments he made to the Times. In an Instagram post, Mason now says the song “is not eligible for Grammy consideration.”
In his post, he specifically calls out the song’s legal trouble as well as its lack of commercial availability as reasons for its exclusion.
“Let me be extra, extra clear: Even though it was written by a human creator, the vocals were not legally obtained, the vocals were not cleared by the label or the artists and the song is not commercially available and because of that, it’s not eligible,” he says.
His comments do suggest, however, that just because this particular song isn’t eligible for a Grammy we might see some AI-generated music show up in the awards show in the future. In June, Mason told the AP “AI, or music that contains AI-created elements is absolutely eligible for entry and for consideration for Grammy nomination. Period.”
“As long as the human is contributing in a more than de minimis amount, which to us means a meaningful way, they are and will always be considered for a nomination or a win," he said.
It seems like in the case of "Heart on My Sleeve" the song’s legal troubles and lack of distribution will keep it off that nomination list.
The 2024 Grammy Awards are scheduled for Feb. 4, 2024, and will be live on CBS and Paramount+.