Josh Fawaz Adds AI Credits to 'Like a Prayer' Cover After Backlash

Credits Updated Following ABC Investigation

Josh Fawaz has updated the credits for his cover of Madonna's "Like a Prayer" to include "GenerativeAI" on Spotify, following an ABC investigation that questioned the role of AI in the track's production. The cover had amassed more than 39 million streams on Spotify and spent four weeks atop the Australian national airplay charts before the scrutiny began. At the time of reporting, the AI credit does not appear on Apple Music.

Industry Voices Weigh In

The controversy has sparked broader debate across social media, where DJs and producers have called out Fawaz and other creators accused of using AI to bypass traditional production methods. Needs No Sleep, an electronic producer who has released on labels including Defected, Toolroom, and Repopulate Mars, described Fawaz as "the biggest issue in music right now."

In a video shared on Instagram, Needs No Sleep said, "His music is generated entirely with AI. Yet it's presented in a way that leads people to believe they're watching a traditional producer finish a song. He types a prompt and then the track is made itself." He added, "If this is the future of music production, where it's just someone dancing around in a studio laughing as a producer, not one single video about how they actually made a track because all they've done is just type a prompt, then we really are cooked as a music industry."

Platform and Industry Push for Transparency

The credit update arrives as Spotify encourages artists to disclose AI usage through a new beta labeling feature. Sam Duboff, Spotify's Global Head of Artists, Marketing & Policy, said earlier this month that the company wants human artists who use generative AI tools to declare that usage. The platform has removed an estimated 75 million tracks flagged as spam over the past year.

A coalition of major music industry trade groups and unions, including the Recording Industry Association of America and the Grammys, recently unveiled a voluntary labeling system designed to inform listeners whether a song was made by a human, an AI, or a combination of both.