A jazz label produced a rendition of an AI-generated song to highlight a crucial issue that the music industry has been neglecting.
Jazz Is Dead aims to validate human-created music before AI completely overwhelms it.
An AI-generated track titled “Through My Soul” has garnered over 11 million views on YouTube and millions of streams globally. Its true creator remains unknown. The artist credited, Enlly Blue, is a fictional character with six complete albums but no real person behind it. This reflects the state of AI music in 2026, and it is becoming increasingly prominent.
How an AI song made its way onto a live performance setlist
Adrian Younge, the composer and co-founder of the Los Angeles-based Jazz Is Dead label, listened to “Through My Soul” and immediately sensed that something was amiss. He shared with Fast Company that he could tell the track had been created rather than performed, with its influences compiled and assembled by an algorithm.
In response, he took an unexpected approach. Younge enlisted his Midnight Hour band alongside vocalist Loren Oden to produce a fully human rendition. He encouraged the musicians to go all out, be daring, and bring the song to life. They performed it live at the Lodge Room in L.A., and it resonated.
A machine-composed song devoid of soul gained meaning with authentic musicians, which Younge appreciated so much that he incorporated it into his touring setlist.
The initiative to establish a verified label for human-produced music
The cover song serves as the focal point of a campaign called Played by Humans, crafted with the advertising agency TBWAChiatDay LA. Artists and labels can submit their music to a tool that identifies AI audio fingerprints. Tracks that succeed receive a certifiable stamp for public recognition, akin to how explicit content is labeled.
The tool has already analyzed over 1.6 million tracks, and the statistics are surprising. According to Deezer, 44% of all music uploaded to streaming platforms each day is now AI-generated, and 97% of listeners cannot distinguish between the two.
What’s the music industry's response to AI music?
The music industry's reaction has been revealing. Spotify introduced a Verified by Spotify badge in April to assist listeners in recognizing human artists. However, in May, Spotify struck a deal with Universal Music Group that allows Premium subscribers to create AI-generated covers and remixes of real songs for an additional fee.
Thus, Spotify is simultaneously attempting to help identify human-created music while also offering a paid service that generates more AI music from the works of human artists. Spotify claims that participating artists will earn royalties on anything created from their material.
Played by Humans is not against AI; it merely examines the music itself, believing listeners deserve transparency about what they are experiencing. Meanwhile, Sony has also developed technology that can pinpoint original songs embedded within AI-generated music to detect plagiarism.
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A jazz label produced a rendition of an AI-generated song to highlight a crucial issue that the music industry has been neglecting.
A jazz record label transformed a nameless AI-generated song into a commentary on human creativity and developed a tool to support it.