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Since the song\u2019s release, it has been unavoidable. The chorus sticks in your head, then follows you around, reverberating at weddings,<\/a> <\/a>baseball stadiums<\/a>, gyms<\/a>, even a convent<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Willonius Hatcher isn\u2019t sure exactly how many views his sensational song, \u201cBBL Drizzy,\u201d has.<\/p>\n When he first created the joke song\u2014which refers to a rumor that rapper Drake received a plastic surgery procedure on his glutes called a Brazilian Butt Lift\u2014the comedian just wanted to inject some humor into the vicious feud brewing between the rapper and musician Kendrick Lamar. Then, contemporary hip hop producer Metro<\/a> Boomin\u2019, eager to dunk on Drake, remixed the song and created the \u201cBBL Drizzy\u201d challenge, offering $10,000 and a free beat to the best lyricist.\u00a0<\/p>\n That remix shot the song into something beyond virality; it became emblazoned into our cultural fabric, recognizable to anyone with a phone, or with ears.\u00a0 However, \u201cBBL Drizzy\u201d was not yet finished.\u00a0<\/p>\n Two weeks ago, Drake himself and another buzzy rapper, Sexxy Red, sampled the song in a new track called \u201cU my Everything.\u201d In doing so, Drake\u2014perhaps accidentally\u2014became the first artist to clear a sample for an AI-generated track.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some industry experts warned Fortune <\/em>that Drake opened a Pandora\u2019s Box<\/a> which will alter the music business forever.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou could luck out, write a song with funny lyrics, generate it, and put it out there, and you\u2019re laughing, going, \u2018Hey, we wrote this song,\u2019\u201d Martin Clancy, the chair of the IEEE Global AI Ethics committee, said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s funny, but the joke has quite serious consequences when you go down the line.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Generating \u201cBBL Drizzy\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Hatcher told Fortune<\/em> that he is not a musician or a producer, but a comedy writer. He wrote the lyrics to \u201cBBL Drizzy\u201d, and then placed it into Udio, a generative AI model which paired the words with a vintage-sounding soul voice.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAI allowed me to do my art at a very high level,\u201d Hatcher said. To make \u201cBBL Drizzy,\u201d he said he would\u2019ve had to get a 70s solo singer, a band, a studio, plus a photo shoot for the cover. \u201cIt just wouldn\u2019t have happened.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n If a song is completely created using AI, then that track is public domain, Joseph Fishman, a Vanderbilt law professor specializing in intellectual property, told Fortune. <\/em>That means that anyone can sample that song for free, without the threat of a lawsuit.<\/p>\n However, in the case of \u201cBBL Drizzy,\u201d the lyrics were human-authored, which means that Sexyy Red and Drake\u2019s lawyers had to clear that portion of the sample with Hatcher\u2019s lawyers, Donald Woodard and Uwonda Carter. To compensate Hatcher, the parties worked out a deal where he received an advanced cash fee, plus a portion of the publishing profits from \u201cU My Everything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Woodard and Carter declined to cite the dollar amount for the deal, citing confidentiality laws. However, Hatcher said it was a \u201cvery fair, a really good deal for all parties involved.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The details for the deal were actually worked out aftrer the release of \u201cU my Everything,\u201d Woodard said, making for a very late night for the two entertainment lawyers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s interesting, but it\u2019s also scary to be part of this conversation,\u201d Woodard said. \u201cThis issue impacts all of our lives in the industry;, it\u2019s something we have to protect. We have to protect talent and creatives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Since it is the first deal of its kind, Hatcher said he was happy that he received any profits at all.<\/p>\n \u201cPrior to \u2018\u201cBBL Drizzy,\u2019\u201d the music industry really wasn\u2019t looking at AI in music in the most favorable light,\u201d Hatcher said, adding that Drake in particular has been an outspoken critic<\/a> of AI after fans shared AI-generated clips of his voice. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy to be the pioneer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n However, there are complex legal, ethical, and philosophical questions associated with the precedent that Hatcher\u2019s lawyers have set in motion. Now that producers can simply sample AI-generated songs for free, some experts in the entertainment industry believe it could spell trouble for artists and musicians.<\/p>\n \u201c98%\u201d of jobs could be in trouble<\/strong><\/p>\n Martin Clancy, a music professor and chair of the AI Ethics board of the IEEE, said that the music industry is already fragile for the majority of creators. Most musicians and producers have to take two or three other jobs just to make a living, Clancy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSo when something like this deal comes along\u2026it sets a real danger, because you can see where the appeal [of having free samples] is, but that\u2019s a lot of people\u2019s jobs,\u201d he noted. \u201cThat\u2019s not necessarily the Taylor Swifts of this world, but it\u2019s everybody else, which is like 98% of people who try to make a living in music., tThis definitely gets\u2026to the heart of their income streams. So that\u2019s how big that would be.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Well-known producers, who provide value simply by placing their name or brand onto a song, will be preserved in this era, Clancy said. Musicians will always relish the prestige of working with a legacy producer. However, \u201cbedroom producers,\u201d or those who rely on producing a large quantity of beats to sell, may be completely eliminated.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gary Greenstein, an established music lawyer and partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, agreed, saying that those who produce beats on the side will likely \u201csee that source of income drying up for them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Othello Beats, an up-and-coming producer who has worked with rap stars like Pop Smoke and Meek Mill, told Fortune<\/em> that he worries about AI having unfair advantages over human producers.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople\u2019s argument is that us musicians, we already take past songs, and we copy it and flip it in our own way,\u201d Othello said. \u201cBut the scale that a computer can do it at is much greater than a human. A computer can scan almost every song in the world and replicate it.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that while he didn\u2019t yet feel the threat, he hoped there would be legislation and regulation on AI to protect musicians\u2019 jobs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Niki Zahedi, a senior vice president at management company Hallwood Media and Othello\u2019s manager, agreed that AI could eliminate many of the headaches around clearing samples that could be easily generated. However, she added that many samples are clips of famous songs, which are under copyright and thus could not be AI-generated.\u00a0<\/p>\n What she believed could be easily replaced, however, is sync music: music that is utilized in commercials, films, video games, trailers, etc. Hallwood Media receives sync briefs weekly from companies requesting a certain type of song for commercials or movie scenes, which she then connects to artists with.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a really good way for artists to make money,\u201d Zahedi said. Recently, one of her clients made $200,000 for a jingle that was aired nationwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jason Boyarski, a prominent entertainment lawyer known for managing Prince\u2019s estate, told Fortune <\/em>that he believed sync music was likely to be overtaken by AI first.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think AI replaces human creativity and originality, and that\u2019s why, at least in the short run, you\u2019ll see more uses of it in the background music space, in the library music space,\u201d Boyarski said.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, Boyarski argued that producers, in the short run, still have a vital role to play in creating songs.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s so much that goes into producing a song\u2014 getting the vocals right, changing pieces of it, it\u2019s hard to think that an underlying AI-created song wouldn\u2019t involve meaningful changes,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Greenstein agreed, noting that AI platforms like Sumo remove barriers to entry for small-time producers to become recognized. An unsigned music creator could post their AI-generated music on Tiktok or Spotify<\/a>, and if people like it, it\u2019ll go viral.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t see why that\u2019s a bad thing,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0The only AI-related policy that Spotify has is against impersonation; otherwise, AI songs are allowed on the platform.\u00a0<\/p>\n For creators like Hatcher, Greenstein\u2019s scenario is a reality. Hatcher is now overwhelmed by requests from companies who want him to make them a funny jingle, or social media stars interested in collaboration.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe same way an influencer now can make six figures using their influence to promote a brand, AI creators will be able to make a living,\u201d Hatcher said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s making a film, making a song, making a photo, whatever it is, they will be using their talents, assisted with AI.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n