AI Madonna rework was #1 on Australian radio charts
Josh Fawaz's cover of 'Like a Prayer' has recently been updated to credit generative AI drums & vocals on Spotify
Australian DJ and producer Josh Fawaz released a cover of Madonna's 'Like a Prayer', which according to ABC topped the Australian national airplay charts for four weeks.
The track has also been streamed more than 38 million times on Spotify, and previously sat at No. 4 on the ARIA Top 20 Australian Dance Singles chart and Australian Singles chart.
His album 'Dance Like Nobody's Watching' is also charting nationally.
The song’s success has drawn scrutiny, primarily over how it was made. As reported on The Guardian, Sam Whiting, a senior research fellow at RMIT's school of media and communication, said the vocal showed signs of AI generators such as Suno.
"This is a very ... impressive vocal performance if it was delivered by a human but if it’s not, that brings in really worrying questions around what we value any more in terms of human expression," he said.
Fawaz addressed the backlash on Instagram after fellow producer Needs No Sleep made a post criticising how the music was allegedly "generated entirely with AI".
"I use ai as a tool it’s not that deep, iv been releasing music way before AI was invented. What I care about it providing my listeners with good music," Fawaz commented on the post.
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Music rights management organisation APRA AMCOS has confirmed that Madonna and 'Like a Prayer' co-writer Patrick Leonard retain publishing royalties, regardless of how the new recording was produced.
"How that song was recorded and any rights that may or may not exist in those recordings is not something that impacts the payment of APRA and AMCOS royalties to the original human owners of the copyright in the underlying musical work performed," reads the statement.
Read this next: Artists can now check whether their music has been used to train AI
ABC reports that on Friday, July 17, Fawaz has since updated the track's credits on Spotify, which now list generative AI vocals and AI drums.
The move follows comments from Spotify's global head of artists, marketing and policy, Sam Duboff, who said the platform is encouraging artists to declare AI use through a new labelling feature.
This move comes after Spotify removed 75 million "spammy tracks" from its catalogue in late 2025.
Amira Waworuntu is Mixmag Asia’s Managing Editor, follow her on Instagram.
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