The ELVIS Act takes steps to protect musicians’ voices from AI deepfakes

Music, like any creative industry, is in the process of being revolutionised by artificial intelligence – for better or worse, depending who you ask. On the one hand, musicians like Holly Herndon, Grimes, and Sevdaliza are using the technology as a tool for artistic innovation. On the other, streaming services are being filled up with muzak made by NPCs, and musicians are being brought back from the dead to continue churning out profitable performances from beyond the grave. Then, there’s the tricky question of audio deepfakes and vocal clones.

In Tennessee, lawmakers have just taken pioneering steps to safeguard musicians against the latter. Signed into law last week (March 21), the aptly-named ELVIS Act is hailed as “first-of-its-kind” legislation to protect artists’ voices from misuse, building upon the state’s existing protections of a person’s “name, photograph, or likeness” under the Protection of Personal Rights law.

To give it its full title, the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act was signed by Tennessee governor Bill Lee at a Nashville honky-tonk, in the presence of local country stars. Essentially, it enables legal action against those who use an individual’s voice “for purposes of advertising products, merchandise, goods, or services, or for purposes of fundraising, solicitation of donations, purchases of products, merchandise, goods, or services”.