It’s the most popular Australian song on the airwaves, and now Josh Fawaz’s rework of Madonna’s Like A Prayer comes with an AI credit following widespread backlash in regards to the song’s provenance.
Originally released on April 14th, Fawaz’s version of Like A Prayer serves as something of a cross between a remix and a cover of the original 1989 single, with uncredited female vocals offering a fresh take on the club-ready cut.
The song’s success was notable, too. In May, the track impacted Australian radio in a big way, debuting on the Radio Monitor Hot 100 at No. 26 – just one week after the original version of the song had itself re-entered the chart at No. 98. In June, the song topped the chart, becoming the most-played song on Australian radio for the preceding week.
Most recently, the song was sitting at No. 2 on the Radio Monitor charts last week with 2,745 spins across metro and regional Australian radio. From Monday to Friday last week, between 6am and 6pm, that single track accounted for 36% of all Australian spins on KIIS Sydney, 25% on 2Day FM, and 22% on Nova Sydney.
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As it stands, Fawaz' version of Like A Prayer currently sits at No. 68 on the Singles chart, one position lower than the peak of its nine weeks in the chart. Additionally, it's No. 4 on the Australian Artists chart after a peak of No. 2, it's No. 4 on the Dance Single charts, and currently No. 1 on the Australian Artist Dance Single chart.
However, this success was not without controversy. Notably, Australian producer Mitch Thomas otherwise known as Needs No Sleep, took to social media to share a video in which he labelled Fawaz "the biggest issue in music right now" and alleging that his music "is generated entirely with AI".
Fawaz responded in the comments of Thomas' video, telling him to "stop having a little sook" and admitting that he uses "AI as a tool" in pursuit of "providing my listeners with good music", but did not specifically address claims that his rework of Like A Prayer is AI-generated.
While requests to Fawaz and his management for comment on the AI status of the song went unanswered, and answer has now come by way of AI credits being added to the track itself.
Previously, the song’s only credits featured Madonna, Patrick Leonard, and Pierre Bordacarre as lyricists, while Fawaz was listed as a producer and performer (with his role specifically labelled as "synethesiser"), and no AI disclosure is included.
Spotify credits for the single and album versions of Josh Fawaz’s Like A Prayer.
Now, the version of the track included on his Dance Like Everyone’s Watching album has had its performers credits updated to include Josh Fawaz as being responsible for drums, Fadi Fawaz for synthesiser”, while Generative AI is responsible for both drums and vocals.
Notably, the single version of the track (which is the same as the album version, and contributes to the more than 38 million streams it has received) does not carry this AI disclosure, nor do any of the other songs on Fawaz’s album.
Last year, Spotify introduced fresh measures to strengthen AI protections for artists and producers, including a new impersonation policy, and the investing of more resources into their content mismatch process.
Additionally, they also spoke of a new industry standard disclosure for music which features AI, which – like the recent announcement by the IFPI – means that both artists and rightholders are able to disclose whether AI was used in terms of vocal generation, instrumentation, or post-production.
At the time of the announcement in September, the disclosure process had not been implemented, and as of April, the platform had launched a beta feature which allowed artists to share how they used AI in their music.
However, while credits for "specific contributions like vocals, lyrics, or production in Song Credits on mobile" were offered to the consumer, this was only made available "where artists have chosen to disclose through their label or distributor".
In the wake of allegations being made that the track was AI-generated, the IFPI last week announced a new global music industry standard for AI labelling in musical recordings.
Welcomed by ARIA, and set to be rolled out in the "near future", the forthcoming standard is designed to give listeners clearer information about what they’re hearing and whether songs they listen to contain generative AI.
Neither Spotify or Fawaz have made any official statement in regards to the recent AI disclosure being added to the former’s Like A Prayer rework.
