ARIA to Bar Mostly-AI Songs From Australia's Charts Friday

The Australian Recording Industry Association will exclude music "created mostly or entirely by artificial intelligence" from its official charts starting Friday, ABC News reports. Recordings that use AI in supporting roles remain eligible if they are "substantially human-made."

"This gives everyone who releases music in Australia a clear rule to work to," ARIA chief executive Annabelle Herd said, calling on industry peers to "support human artistry and implement similar changes." The new code lets ARIA remove ineligible recordings, alter chart positions and revoke chart awards, though artists can contest exclusions.

The trigger is a Queensland DJ, Josh Fawaz, whose AI-vocal Madonna cover became Australia's most-played radio track in July and reached number four on two ARIA charts before he updated the Spotify listing to disclose that the vocals and drums were AI-generated. Fawaz said he used AI "as a tool." An ARIA spokesperson told the ABC that under the incoming rules a track with AI lead vocals would likely be disqualified.

Australia is aligning with principles the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry published in July, which said more than 20 official chart programs were adopting rules meant to separate human-created recordings from wholly AI-generated material. It sits alongside separate music-industry pressure on the AI tools themselves, including Suno's move to watermark AI songs under label legal pressure earlier this month, one of 24 copyright stories we've tracked in the last 90 days.

ARIA has not published a threshold for what "substantially human-made" means in practice: how much human writing, performance or production a hybrid track must contain to remain eligible, or what evidence a label must supply on request.