AI Music Project 'Eleven Album' Features AI-Generated Voices of Liza Minnelli and Art Garfunkel

Artificial intelligence audio company ElevenLabs has launched "The Eleven Album," a groundbreaking project featuring AI-generated music from iconic artists like Liza Minnelli and Art Garfunkel. The album aims to showcase the capabilities of ElevenLabs' new AI music generator, Eleven Music, while emphasizing artist rights and ownership.

Key Takeaways

• ElevenLabs has released "The Eleven Album," featuring AI-generated music with voices modelled after Liza Minnelli and Art Garfunkel.
• The project aims to demonstrate the potential of AI in music creation while ensuring artists retain ownership and receive fair compensation.
• The album has sparked debate about the role of AI in the arts, with some artists expressing concerns about copyright and job displacement.

A New Era of AI Music Collaboration

ElevenLabs, known for its advanced AI voice generation technology, has partnered with a diverse group of artists, including EGOT winner Liza Minnelli and legendary singer-songwriter Art Garfunkel, for "The Eleven Album." This project is presented as a significant step in artist-AI collaboration, where the AI model is used to create original tracks that blend the artists' signature styles with new sonic possibilities. The album is now available on Spotify and the ElevenLabs website.

Artist Rights and AI Ethics

ElevenLabs emphasizes that "The Eleven Album" was created with the full permission of the participating artists, who retain full authorship and commercial rights to their work. The company states that its AI music model is trained on licensed music, addressing concerns about copyright infringement. Artists involved, like Minnelli, have expressed interest in exploring new tools for expression, with Minnelli stating, "This project respects the artist’s voice, the artist’s choices, and the artist’s ownership." Garfunkel added that technology evolves alongside music, and this project respects musicianship while opening new doors.

Industry Reactions and Concerns

The release of "The Eleven Album" comes amid ongoing debates within the music and creative industries regarding the ethical implications of AI. While ElevenLabs highlights its commitment to creator control and fair compensation, critics like filmmaker Justine Bateman raise concerns about AI models being trained on stolen work and the potential for AI to devalue human artistry. Concerns also persist about AI potentially displacing human artists and the environmental impact of AI technologies. The project also leverages ElevenLabs' "Iconic Voices Marketplace," where public figures can license their AI-cloned voices for commercial use.

The Sound of AI Music

"The Eleven Album" spans various genres, including EDM, pop, R&B, and spoken word. Liza Minnelli's contribution, "Kids Wait Til You Hear This," is described as an EDM track, while Art Garfunkel's "Authorship" is a spoken-word piece. While some tracks are noted for their derivative nature, others, like an instrumental piece by Demitri Lerios, are said to be indistinguishable from human-created music. The album serves as a showcase for Eleven Music's capabilities, allowing users to generate compositions from prompts and offering granular control for editing and mixing.