Having previously pledged a 50/50 royalty split with anyone who released a track using an AI-generated version of her voice, Grimes (AKA "The Self-replicating AI Popstar for the Martian Ministry of Propaganda," according to her Twitter profile) is now giving you the tools you need to make it happen.
The producer’s new Elf.Tech project enables you to upload or record acapellas that will then be transformed into a ‘GrimesAI-1 voiceprint’ - a Grimesified version of your vocal, basically. You’ll receive your processed audio back as a WAV file and then be free to use it in your own music.
“This is all a beta test so it may be imperfect at first,” the star - whose real name is Claire Boucher - wrote on Twitter. “But! Let's try this out!”
HOW TO MAKE MUSIC FEAT GrimesAI - we can distribute it for you and you can earn royalties from your work: https://t.co/p598CXaXnDApril 30, 2023
Any new recordings made with the voiceprint will be yours. GrimesAI-1 doesn’t claim any ownership of either these or the “underlying composition” (unless you happen to be covering a Grimes song, that is).
There are some potential costs involved, though: if you want to distribute your song to a streaming service you’ll be required to pay $10 a year for the privilege. If you're planning on releasing a GrimesAI-1 recording on a label, via a distributor or on another platform, you’ll have to contact Grimes for approval.
As previously suggested, Grimes will split all royalties from streaming platforms 50/50 with any GrimesAI collaborators. These will be collected and paid out by Elf.Tech. For on-chain sales and royalties creators must agree to add the GrimesAI.eth wallet to the collection when minting.
Elf.Tech says that it wants the Grimes voice model to be “the best self-replicating pop star voice on the market,” and so is open-sourcing Grimes audio stems to music creators and AI voice model companies (these are available for download on its website).
The GrimesAI voice model is currently in beta - the developers say that it will frequently update this, the stems and the distribution service. You can find out more and get started on the Elf.Tech website (email sign-up required).
