A new startup called Artist Included is using artificial intelligence to help musicians reimagine classic recordings and create new, artist-owned masters. Its first public project is a reworked version of Culture Club’s 1983 hit ‘Karma Chameleon’, made with the participation of Boy George and rights holder BMG.
The company, which counts Red Light Management among its early investors, relies on a vocal AI platform from tech firm Syntiant. Artist Included says its model is built on consent, transparency, rights clearance, and creator participation. The resulting masters can be released on streaming services and open up additional opportunities in sync licensing, foreign-language versions, remixes, and tokenisation.
Boy George underlined the appeal of regaining control. “It’s hard to get excited about something that you don’t control,” he said, referring to the original ‘Karma Chameleon’ master owned by Virgin Records. Co-founder Paul Kemsley pointed to recent licensing deals for that recording. “Four million [dollars] changed hands. George didn’t get anything at all,” Kemsley said. “If AI is used correctly, it can return value to the original creators.”
Artists re-recording their back catalogues is not a new tactic, but few have managed to make the new versions genuinely compete with the originals for streaming and sync income, Taylor Swift being a notable exception. The ‘Karma Chameleon’ release will test whether Artist Included’s AI-driven approach can help more artists achieve similar results. The venture is likely to be watched closely by both artists and traditional rightsholders, who may have mixed feelings about AI tools that challenge catalogue revenues.
