Hozier would consider strike over AI threat to music

Irish musician Hozier has said he would consider striking over the threat artificial intelligence (AI) poses to his industry.

Hollywood actors and writers are currently striking over a row about better contracts and protection from the use of AI.

Hozier told the BBC’s Newsnight he would be willing to join similar strike action in the music industry.

The singer added he was not sure if AI “meets the definition of art”.

In July, Hollywood writers and actors manned picket lines for the first time in decades. Among their concerns was a proposal by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to keep “digital replicas” of actors.

But musicians are yet to follow suit regarding the threat AI poses to their own industry. The technology could be used to write songs or mimic well-known artists.

In April, a song that used AI to clone the voices of Drake and The Weeknd was removed from streaming services following criticism that it violated copyright law.

Asked if he could imagine going on strike over the threat AI poses to music, Hozier, whose real name is Andrew John Hozier-Byrne, said: “Joining in solidarity if there was… action on that? Absolutely.”

“Whether [AI is] art or not, I think, is nearly a philosophical debate,” the Grammy-nominated singer, well known for his song Take Me to Church, told presenter Victoria Derbyshire.

“It can’t create something based on a human experience. So I don’t know if it meets the definition of art.”

Last week, the Financial Times reported that Google and Universal Music are in talks to license artists’ melodies and voices for songs generated by AI.

During his interview, Hozier also discussed the death of fellow Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor.

The singer reflected that he was “walking on this road that she paved”, after she ripped up a picture of the Pope on US TV in 1992, in protest against child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

Her actions initially drew widespread condemnation.

Three decades later, Hozier’s debut single Take Me to Church, which he said criticised the church’s teaching of “shame about sexual orientation”, reached number one in 12 countries and remains the 30th most streamed song of all time.

“I think sensibilities have changed,” Hozier said of the difference in reaction. “I think part of it is because Sinead was a woman. I think a lot of it is she was one of the first who had that courage to stand up and say it.

“That was such a taboo at the time.”

Hozier suggested the “mission statement” of his debut single is “more applicable now than it was 10 years ago”.

“I’m not delighted about this, but I think in some ways it is more applicable… We didn’t have LGBTQ+ free zones in the European Union 10 years ago,” he said.

“We didn’t have armed militia waiting outside of, you know, gay and queer spaces and with this sort of terrible threat hanging over that.”

When asked if he would ever perform in Russia, Saudi Arabia, or other states that repress minorities, the artist described the issue as “a tricky one”.

“Do we not repress minorities here? Or in America?” he asked, as he revealed he had turned down an invite to an event that was sponsored by the Russian state.

“I was invited to perform once in the Vatican City, which was interesting… They invited me to sing Take Me to Church, I believe, at one point.”

“And you said no?” Derbyshire asked. “Oh yeah. That would’ve been fun,” Hozier quipped.

The musician spoke to Newsnight in his only UK broadcast interview ahead of the launch of his new album Unreal Unearth.

The album, which is partly inspired by Italian poet Dante’s Inferno, and his experience of the pandemic, is released on 18 August.

The full interview is broadcast on Newsnight at 22:30 BST on BBC Two, the BBC News Channel and on iPlayer.