Grimes offers 50% royalties on AI songs using her voice

While the music industry is busy sending takedown notices to stop fans from cloning their stars, Grimes just flipped the entire script.

The indie pop artist announced on Twitter that she will split 50% of royalties on any successful AI-generated song that uses her voice, giving creators an open green light to clone her sound.

Takedowns vs. a 50-50 split

The move came right after the music world was rocked by "Heart on My Sleeve," a viral AI track that cloned Drake and The Weeknd. Universal Music Group quickly intervened, condemning the track as infringing content and pulling it from major streaming services.

Grimes posted a screenshot of that controversy and offered the exact opposite response.

She said anyone can use her voice without penalty, adding that a 50% royalty split is the same deal she would strike with any living artist she collaborates with.

When a fan asked about song credits, Grimes said creators can credit her as either a lead or a featured artist, stating she was open to whatever people want and was excited to be a guinea pig.

An unchained artist killing copyright

Grimes can pull this off primarily because she is operating outside the traditional studio machine.

She explained that she currently has no record label and no legal bindings holding her back. Without corporate legal departments breathing down her neck, she has complete ownership over her output.

She went even further, writing that she thinks it is cool to be fused with a machine and loves the idea of open sourcing all art and killing copyright.

Why it matters

For creators and bedroom producers, this is a massive green light. Instead of risking copyright strikes or DMCA takedowns, anyone with access to voice-cloning tech can now drop a commercial track with an established pop voice and share the upside.

We think Grimes is making a remarkably shrewd move. Instead of trying to police the internet, she is effectively turning her vocal identity into an open platform. Hundreds of creators will now write, produce, and market tracks using her brand for free, while she collects half the royalties on whatever happens to blow up.

However, this model is not something most chart-topping artists can replicate anytime soon. Grimes can only do this because she is free of label contracts. For legacy labels tied to traditional copyright frameworks, user-generated AI voice clones remain a threat rather than an opportunity, but Grimes just showed the world what an alternative path looks like.