(June 14, 2026) For those who don’t realize the fear in the music world of the coming impact of A.I., here is another piece of evidence. Billboard magazine has reported that music legend Lionel Richie is attempting to trademark the sound of his voice to prevent A.I. copying.
On June 11, Richie filed four applications for the sound of his voice on his hits songs “Say You, Say Me,” “Easy,” “All Night Long (All Night),” and, of course, “Hello,” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He follows similar action taken earlier this year by pop star Taylor Swift. These filings appear to be designed to address the impending problem of artificial intelligence programs training on the voices of famous artists and largely replicating them in new songs without compensation or attribution.
We’ve written several articles about the impact of A.I. on music, beginning with our most read article about how a promoter submitted an A.I. artist to us as if real, which led us to create our own policy limiting reviews of A.I.-generated music. While we’ve generally found A.I.-generated music to be pretty boring, there is no question that it is a wave that is coming, like it or not.
It isn’t clear whether the attempts by Richie, Swift and others will have an impact on the questionable use of A.I. in music, but what is clear is that this isn’t the last battle we will see. Stay tuned.
By Chris Rizik
