A record label becomes the first to sign “AI music designer”

Well, the next phase of AI in music is here.

Timbaland has started an AI record label. The music world is still reeling from the whole confusing, Velvet Sundown AI band debacle. Naturally, now is the time for more potentially dystopic AI in music news to drop: that a real record label has now signed an “AI music designer,” a first for the music industry, per Billboard.

On Thursday, Hallwood Media announced that it has inked a deal with imoliver, a “human music designer,” a press release states, that’s behind some of the top-streaming songs on Suno, an AI music creation platform that’s able to generate fully formed songs using a user-generated prompt. His song “Stone” has over 3 million streams on Suno, and will be available to stream everywhere on August 8. A forthcoming debut album, presumably containing songs all made on Suno, is set to arrive on October 24.

There’s little immediate information to be found about imoliver but a cursory Google search brings up an Instagram account of someone named Oliver McCann who might be from the U.K. Other songs on his Suno profile include a Selling Sunset-style house-lite song called “waiting for the weekend,” and an EDM track called “Foot Down Friday” that makes me wanna go listen to Rebecca Black’s “Friday.”

As of writing, streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music have no definitive policies regarding AI-generated songs and music and have allowed AI-generated music to be uploaded on their platforms.

Perhaps the only major music institution that’s clarified a stance around AI music is the Recording Academy, which announced in 2023 that fully AI-generated music would not be eligible for awards — but “if there’s an AI voice singing the song or AI instrumentation, we’ll consider it,” Harvey Mason Jr., the CEO of the Grammys, said. It’s unclear where he’ll draw the line when it comes to music like that which imoliver is making, which markets itself as being “designed” by a human.

In a statement, a rep for Hallwood Media writes of the signing, “imoliver represents the future of our medium. He’s a music designer who stands at the intersection of craftwork and taste. As we share his journey, the world will see the dexterity behind his work and what makes it so special. What he does is exactly why I love music and why we push boundaries at Hallwood.”

imoliver himself added in the release, “This isn’t about replacing artists, it’s about expanding what’s possible.”