In a landmark decision reshaping the global music industry’s approach to artificial intelligence, Australia’s official music chart body has introduced strict new rules barring largely or fully AI-created songs from eligibility for its rankings, effective this week.
The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) announced that all tracks submitted for chart consideration must now meet a “substantially human made” requirement, a policy crafted to protect the core human element of artistic creation amid an explosion of AI-generated music content. The change comes in direct response to a high-profile controversy that rocked Australia’s music scene earlier this year, when an AI-assisted cover of Madonna’s iconic *Like A Prayer* from Australian DJ Josh Fawaz climbed to second place on the national overall singles chart and topped the ARIA dance chart. The track gained massive traction, racking up more than 48 million streams on Spotify alone and earning regular spins on major commercial radio playlists, before Fawaz was forced to add clear generative AI credits to the release following widespread public backlash.
ARIA officials emphasized that the new rules do not amount to a full ban on all AI use in music creation. The policy permits AI to act as a assisting tool: creators may still leverage AI for audio mastering, use AI-powered drum machines, or rely on auto-tune and other digital production aids. To qualify for the charts, however, humans must retain core creative roles: writing the full song composition, performing the lead vocals, and playing the primary instruments featured on the track.
Australia is not the first territory to restrict AI-generated music from official charts. Earlier this year, a fully AI-created track was blocked from eligibility in Sweden’s national rankings. In July, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the global body representing the recorded music industry, announced that it would roll out unified AI guidelines for official charts across Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia. ARIA’s updated policy is aligned with this global IFPI framework, and also adds an extra provision excluding tracks flagged for stream or chart manipulation.
“These changes reflect our intent to remain dynamic and promote the human nature of artistry in what is, to say the least, a rapidly developing space,” said Annabelle Herd, ARIA’s Chief Executive Officer. She clarified that the rule acknowledges the already widespread use of AI tools by working artists, and charts are intended to evolve to accommodate legitimate innovation: “Artists already use AI tools in their work, the charts can and should evolve to keep room for that, but music generated wholesale by services built on artists’ recordings is a different matter.” Herd added that rewarding unlicensed AI-generated music would undermine the entire foundation of the recorded music industry ARIA exists to represent.
Under the new compliance process, all artists submitting tracks for chart consideration must explicitly disclose any use of AI in their creative work. If ARIA later discovers that a charting track is substantially AI-generated without proper disclosure, the organization reserves the right to retroactively adjust the track’s chart position, and in cases where the track reached number one, it can demand the return of any number one achievement awards. Artists who are excluded from the charts under the new policy also retain the right to appeal the decision.
The new rule has earned support from prominent Australian artists, including popular electronic duo Peking Duk. Last month, the group went viral after sharing an AI-assisted re-recording of their 2014 breakout hit *High* on Instagram, with a sarcastic caption reading: “When you re-record your own song with AI so Australian radio will play it.” Band member Adam Hyde told Channel Nine’s *Today* show that fully AI-generated music erodes a core part of human connection, saying it is “removing the human experience from life.”
The policy change also aligns with the Australian federal government’s previous commitments to protecting creative workers from unregulated AI. In July 2023, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised “the strongest possible protection” for Australian creators from unethical AI use, pledging that writers and musicians would get the right to choose whether and how their work is used to train AI models. Albanese noted that denying creators this control and failing to compensate them for their work’s use in AI training amounts to theft.