Josh Fawaz’s “Like a Prayer” Tops Australian Radio While AI Origins Spark Debate

Australian producer Josh Fawaz’s cover of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” reached No. 1 on the National Radio Airplay chart after its April release and amassed 35 million Spotify streams. The track also topped the iTunes Electronic chart worldwide and helped his debut 18-track album *Dance Like Nobody’s Watching* climb to No. 18 on the ARIA Australian artist albums chart. A new commercial radio code of practice requiring disclosure of AI-generated voices took effect on 1 July, but the rule does not cover music.

The Guardian

The surge in Fawaz’s success coincides with big-tech firms lobbying to loosen Australian copyright rules so they can scrape local output for AI training. The Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society confirmed that Fawaz, a member since 2021, will still generate performance royalties for the original rights holders of “Like a Prayer.” The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) is urging the introduction of equitable remuneration and mandatory watermarking for AI-created content, warning that large datasets are “driving job losses, undercutting incomes, and hollowing out Australia’s creative and media industries.”

The Guardian

Music scholars and peers have flagged audible traits they associate with generative AI, such as heavy compression and “sloppy drums.” Producer/DJ Needs No Sleep described AI-generated music as “the biggest issue in music right now,” arguing that royalties from such tracks divert earnings from artists who create “real music.” RMIT senior research fellow Sam Whiting said the song’s vocal quality raises “really worrying questions around what we value any more in terms of human expression.”

The Guardian

Fawaz’s management (Hallwood) declined comment, and Fawaz himself posted on Instagram that he uses AI “as a tool” and that his priority is “providing my listeners with good music.” APRA/AMCOS reiterated that royalties will be paid to the original human owners of the Madonna-Leonard composition.

The Guardian

• “This is a very ... impressive vocal performance if it was delivered by a human but if it’s not, that brings in really worrying questions around what we value any more in terms of human expression,” — Sam Whiting, senior research fellow, RMIT

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• “If this is the future of music production … then we really are cooked,” — Needs No Sleep, producer/DJ (Instagram)

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• “I’ve been doing it for 15 years and you can tell the way that AI music is produced – it has distinguishable features,” — Needs No Sleep

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• “Massive datasets of music, films, journalism, books and voices are being scraped to train commercial AI systems,” — spokesperson, Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance

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• “[I’ve] been releasing music way before AI was invented. What I care about [is] providing my listeners with good music. Maybe you should do the same.” — Josh Fawaz (Instagram)

The Guardian