How to Protect Your Music Against Deepfakes & AI Generators

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As artificial intelligence advances, musicians and artists face new challenges in protecting their creative works and identities. Deepfake technology uses AI to create highly realistic audio, video, or images that can convincingly imitate real people.

In the music industry, this has led to unauthorized AI-generated songs featuring the intellectual property of popular artists. Meanwhile, AI generators can produce original music, lyrics, and even entire albums without human input.

While these technologies offer creative possibilities, they also raise serious concerns, such as the unauthorized use of artists' likenesses, potential loss of income from AI-generated music, creation of fake performances or statements, and damage to artists' reputations from convincing fakes.

In the times when even Microsoft's CEO of AI says everything put up on the internet is free to be copied and used to create new content, musicians and other creatives need to take proactive steps to protect their work and identity.

Lawmakers and industry groups are beginning to address the challenges posed by AI in music. U.S. Senate proposed the NO FAKES Act, which aims to protect artists from unauthorized AI deepfakes by allowing civil liability claims against those who produce them without permission.

Organizations like the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) are also pushing for artist-forward AI policies and supporting legislative efforts. Additionally, international efforts are being made, with countries like the UK considering new laws to protect musicians and celebrities from AI deepfakes.

Technical Solutions for Music Protection

There are several technological approaches that can help safeguard music against unauthorized AI use:

1. AntiFake Technology

Ning Zhang, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, has developed the AntiFake tool, which uses adversarial AI techniques to prevent the synthesis of deceptive speech, achieving over 95% protection rate against state-of-the-art synthesizers. It does so while maintaining acceptable audio quality for human listeners. Currently focused on short clips, this technology shows promise for protecting longer recordings in the future.

2. Watermarking and Fingerprinting

These technologies offer several advantages in protecting music against unauthorized use and AI manipulation.

Digital watermarking involves embedding inaudible identifiers directly into audio files. These watermarks can contain various types of information, such as the artist's name, contact details, copyright information, timestamp of creation, and various unique identifiers for tracking.

High-quality watermarks preserve the original audio quality and can survive various audio processing techniques, including compression, equalization, and format conversion. Advanced encryption methods make it difficult for unauthorized parties to detect or remove watermarks. Examples of audio watermarking tools include AWT2, Digimarc, and Verance Aspect.

Audio fingerprinting creates a unique digital signature of a song based on its acoustic properties. This "fingerprint" can be used for automated detection and identification. Fingerprinting systems can quickly search through vast databases of music and identify songs even in noisy environments or with slight modifications. Audible Magic provides content identification services for major streaming platforms and social media sites. Actually, Shazam, a popular music recognition app, also uses audio fingerprinting to identify songs.

3. AI Detection Tools

These tools serve multiple purposes in the fight against unauthorized AI-generated music. They enable artists to monitor for AI-created versions of their songs that may infringe on their copyrights. Additionally, these systems help verify the authenticity of collaborations and releases, ensuring that all parties involved are genuine and authorized. In cases of disputes, these detection tools can provide crucial evidence to support copyright claims.

One such tool is Ircam Amplify's AI-Generated Detector, which boasts an impressive 98.5% accuracy rate in identifying AI-generated music. It's particularly useful for music labels, publishers, and streaming platforms looking to maintain the authenticity of their catalogs. For vocal-specific detection, PlayHT offers AI Voice Classifier that can identify synthetic voices to help artists concerned about deepfake audio impersonations. Pex, a content identification company, has also developed tools (like Pex Search) that can detect AI-generated music and voices. Their technology can recognize new uses of existing AI tracks and help determine when music is likely to be AI-generated.

Best Practices for Music Protection Against AI

First, register your songs with copyright offices to prove that you legally own your music. When working with others or letting people use your music, use clear contracts that discuss AI and voice copying to prevent others from misusing your work.

Keep an eye on the internet. Regularly check streaming sites and social media to see if anyone's using your music or voice without permission. It's also a good idea to teach your fans about fake AI-made content and help them know how to spot your real music and videos.

Support music industry groups that are fighting for better protection against AI misuse. You might also want to use music platforms that are harder for AI to copy from. Creating a unique music style that's tough for AI to copy is also always the move because it makes your work stand out and harder to fake. Don't forget about live shows – they show off the real you that AI can't easily imitate.

Lastly, never stop learning about new AI tech and laws—keep up with developments and legal protections to adapt your strategies as needed.

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