The Daily

The Ballad of ‘Deepfake Drake’

Apr 28, 2023

Joe Coscarelli, a culture reporter for The New York Times specializing in music, dives into the viral phenomenon of the deepfake track ‘Heart on My Sleeve’ featuring AI-generated vocals from Drake and The Weeknd. He discusses how this incident hits the music industry with questions of copyright and authenticity. Coscarelli explores the implications of AI in music production and what it means for the future of artists, ownership, and creativity as the industry faces an evolving landscape shaped by technology.

24:48

Creator website

Episode guests

Joe Coscarelli

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Intro

5min

AI in Music: The Rise of Deepfake Tracks

7min

Navigating Copyright and AI in the Music Industry

3min

AI and the Future of Music

9min

Economic Slowdown and Tribute to a Cultural Icon

3min

This month, an anonymous producer jolted the music industry by using artificial intelligence to impersonate the singers Drake and the Weeknd, creating a fake track, “Heart on My Sleeve,” that quickly went viral.

Joe Coscarelli, a culture reporter for The Times, talks about how the song’s rise and fall could presage widespread changes in the way music is made.

Guest: Joe Coscarelli, a culture correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading:

A track like “Heart on My Sleeve” may be a novelty for now. But the legal and creative questions it raises are here to stay.
Who owns a song created by A.I.?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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