Meghan Trainor’s Will Includes a Clause Restricting AI Use of Her Voice After Death

Meghan Trainor performs during a taping of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" at Rockefeller Center in New York City on May 21, 2015. Theo Wargo/NBC/Getty Images for "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon"

Meghan Trainor, the Grammy Award-winning singer, has taken steps to ensure that her voice won’t be replicated using artificial intelligence (AI) after her death.

The 30-year-old artist shared a nuanced perspective on the topic, expressing both admiration and wariness of AI during her conversation with Fox News at the iHeartRadio Music Awards earlier in April.

“Sometimes I love it, sometimes I’m scared,” she said, referring to AI. “I don’t know a lot about it.”

Ms. Trainor expressed surprise upon learning about the ability of artificial intelligence to replicate a person’s voice and likeness.

“I’m like, ‘Wait, they can make me say and sing things that I didn’t do?’ And they were like, ‘Yeah.’ That’s spooky,” she recounted. “So, it is in my will now; you can’t use my voice.”

The integration of AI in the music industry has sparked widespread discussion.

A group of prominent figures, including Billie Eilish, Pearl Jam, Miranda Lambert, and more added their names to an open letter in April, expressing reservations about its use. The letter, posted by Artist Rights Alliance, urged industry leaders to exercise caution, citing potential risks such as deepfakes and replicas.

“Cease the use of artificial intelligence to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists,” the letter emphasized, underlining the need for safeguards to protect artistic integrity and creative ecosystems while acknowledging AI’s positive uses.

Legislation

In response to concerns in the music industry about this technology, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed the ELVIS Act into law in March.

The ELVIS Act, formally known as the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act, is a legislative measure enacted in Tennessee. This act is designed to protect artists, particularly musicians, from the unauthorized use of their voice, name, image, and likeness. It grants legal rights to artists and license holders to take legal action and seek damages in cases where their rights are violated, such as unauthorized replication or manipulation of their likeness or voice.

However, some artists are embracing AI to explore new possibilities.

The band KISS announced their farewell to live performances in December, teasing a return as digital avatars, and Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr released a new Beatles song in 2023 called “Now and Then,” which used recordings of all four original members. The track is based on an old demo of the late John Lennon, and producers used AI to isolate the vocal and piano tracks and incorporate past session recordings from the late George Harrison, The Verge reported.

Ditto Music, a music distribution and artist management company, released a survey of musicians that uncovered a compelling trend: nearly 60 percent of musicians are embracing AI within their creative workflows. The company surveyed 1,299 independent artists.

About 11 percent of respondents admitted to integrating AI into their songwriting processes, while 20.3 percent acknowledged its efficacy in production tasks. A substantial 30.6 percent affirmed its role in the mastering phase, and another 38 percent said they used AI to create the visual artwork accompanying their music.