Is voice licensing for artists a new revenue stream in the era of AI? Enter VoiceSwap by DJ Fresh.
AI voice cloning can re-create an artist’s voice using machine learning and hours of samples. It’s how unauthorized mash-ups like the Drake and the Weeknd collab went viral on social media earlier this year. It even racked up thousands of plays on Spotify before Universal Music Group stepped in and asked the DSP to take action against AI uploads.
With the accessibility of AI voice training technology, the question remains how the music industry will adapt to this new technology? Producer and DJ, DJ Fresh believes he has the answer, so he’s teamed up with software developer Nico Pellerin to forge a new path. VoiceSwap aims to create AI voice models that have been authorized by the artist. After signing up and agreeing to have their voice used, artists’ receive a 50% share of the revenue generated by their voice model on the VoiceSwap platform.
VoiceSwap features the vocals of only five artists for now—Angie Brown, Nikki Ambers, Dominique Young Unique, Jamie McCool, and Liam Bailey. DJ Fresh says he hopes to expand the platform to include hundreds of other artists. He’s also inviting artists to submit their vocals to be included in the platform. The claim is that VoiceSwap only needs around 25 minutes of singing, or eight a capella tracks to accurate re-create a vocal clone of an artist’s voice.
Artists retain ownership of any AI-generated recordings that use their voice model. Once a track has been created, a user can contact representatives for the artist through VoiceSwap to discuss the possibility of commercially releasing the created track. The artist has no obligation to agree to a license or feature on any recording generated using the platform.
VoiceSwap is angling itself a a “robust rights and permissions framework” rather than just a vocal cloning tool. It aims to tackle unauthorized commercial use of an artist’s voice. Part of that effort is making use of patented technology to trace each vocal recording back to its source to prevent piracy. The service is only available as a subscription for now, with tiers ranging from $5.99 a month to $29.99 monthly. Users can try the service by accessing a minute’s worth of credits for free.
