According to YouTube posts, the celebrity tributes were plentiful. They came from Ed Sheeran, Eminem, Taylor Swift, Celine Dion, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Post Malone, Dax, Lil Wayne, Jelly Roll, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber and Imagine Dragons. But none of them were real. They were all generated using artificial intelligence. And they often featured fake thumbnail images that showed the artists in tears or with mournful expressions.
Two weeks ago, record company Hallwood Media signed a deal with Telisha "Nikki" Jones after negotiations that purportedly included an offer of $3 million, Billboard reported. Jones is a Mississippi-based lyricist behind the R&B artist "Xania Monet" whose most popular song on Spotify racked up over 1 million listens, and whose Reels regularly top 100,000 views on Instagram - despite her likeness, vocals, and music being AI-generated.
For many SMEs, advertising, marketing, and content creation are constrained by tight budgets and limited time. In today's short-video era, where social media plays a central role in communicating brand value, music has become a key part of marketing campaigns. Yet sourcing the right tracks is rarely straightforward. Royalty-free music often requires additional licensing fees, and even then it may not fully match a brand's identity or deliver the desired emotional impact.