South African talk radio spent late June and early July circling one uncomfortable question: what happens when 20,000 AI-generated songs land on streaming services every single day, and how much of that flood is quietly slipping onto local playlists? Presenters on Power FM, Cape Talk, SAfm and 702 moved from curiosity to alarm as they realised AI tracks were charting on Billboard, sneaking into gospel playlists on YouTube, and — most pointedly — training on the work of South African artists without consent.
The conversation split along familiar lines. Some hosts framed AI as an exciting creative tool that independent artists might harness; others warned it was a discovery-killer that would starve local musicians of the little income they still make. Underneath it all sat a shared frustration: copyright law, the Copyright Amendment Bill, and the collective management organisations meant to protect artists are not keeping pace. Calls for opt-in training, class action lawsuits and stricter playlist vetting grew louder as the week progressed.
A creeping realisation on-air
The story built slowly. On Cape Talk, a presenter admitted being "slightly shook" that AI was creeping into the creative spaces once considered most human — music, art, writing, film — and pointed to the first AI song entering a Billboard radio airplay chart as the moment the debate stopped being hypothetical.1 The presenter asked listeners whether they had unknowingly vibed to a fully synthetic track.2 Days later on Power FM, Clementine Mabena described exactly that experience: stumbling onto an "AI musician" called Art Icons and only realising afterwards it wasn't a real band.3 Another Power FM host recounted a YouTube gospel playlist where every song sounded good — only the album art gave the game away.4
The scale problem
By 3 July, Power FM was putting a number on it: roughly 20,000 fully AI-generated songs uploaded to streaming services every day, drowning independent musicians in a discovery crisis.5 The framing across the network was that AI is "moving faster than before," producing beats and mimicking voices in seconds, and that independent artists are the most vulnerable in that race.6 A 702 caller pushed the point further, asking whether professional musicians and producers — some of whom are already quietly using AI vocalists because it is cheap or free — are prepared for what's coming.7
South African artists in the training data
The conversation turned sharply local on SAfm, where a presenter read out a list of South African artists found in AI training datasets and framed it bluntly: "This is music by South African artists that has been stolen by AI… Where is the class action lawsuit coming? It should come very, very soon."8 Cape Talk echoed the concern from a policy angle, asking what the EU Commission was proposing to protect creatives whose work had been scraped without permission.9 The through-line was that scraping is not a future risk — it has already happened, and local voices, languages and rhythmic traditions are inside the models.
Where the law falls short
On Power FM, guests were direct about the legislative gap: AI needs to be regulated as "an enabler" that doesn't take from artists, and the Copyright Amendment Bill has to be the vehicle so that collective management organisations can actually collect and distribute.10 The same panel argued that because nothing is properly legislated, "tech companies can do anything" — your music "can just be there" inside an AI system with no recourse.11 Asked whether current copyright law is enough, one guest hedged: "yes and no," but the guardrails on what can be published "need to be a little bit more strict."12
Practical fixes floated on-air
Power FM listeners heard concrete proposals. One host suggested that platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and DiSA should force a clear opt-in or opt-out toggle at upload — "I opt-in for my music to be used to train AI" — and that AI outputs should cite the songs they drew from.13 Another segment stressed that the music business is a business: artists need the right team and must actually read the fine print in platform T's and C's before uploading anywhere.14 On 702, a rights specialist described the technical work of using data and AI itself to determine fair usage rates and licensing windows — a reminder that the same technology causing the problem is also being pitched as part of the solution.15
Playlists, gatekeepers and SAMPRA
A sharper accusation surfaced on Power FM: AI tracks are already slipping onto radio station playlists, and music compilers either can't tell or aren't checking. "Can't you hear this is AI?" one host asked, before raising the awkward downstream question of what that means for SAMPRO royalty flows when an AI song gets spun on air.16 YouTube came in for particular scrutiny as a "double-edged sword" — the platform indie artists most rely on to be heard, but also the one where their work most easily gets ingested and repurposed.17
Advantage or extinction event?
Hosts genuinely split on the bottom line. On SAfm, one guest predicted the hype would peak and subside because "the original and the real will always survive."18 On Cape Talk, another framed AI as neither dot-com bubble nor pure threat but something artists will have to navigate at varying degrees.19 Power FM's closing question — will AI help independent artists reach new heights, or make it even harder to earn a coin? — got an honest answer: "right now it ends up feeling like a bit of a disadvantage."20 The broader 702 framing was that AI is no longer just commercial software but critical national infrastructure, which raises the stakes for who gets to set the rules.21
What's unresolved
Three threads are worth watching. First, whether the Copyright Amendment Bill actually delivers the AI-specific protections presenters keep demanding, or whether it lands too late. Second, whether SA artists — or a CMO acting on their behalf — file the class action that SAfm's presenter openly called for.8 Third, whether local stations and streaming platforms adopt any form of AI-disclosure standard for playlist inclusion, because right now, by the industry's own admission on-air, AI tracks are already in rotation and nobody is quite sure what to do about it.16
- 702
- Cape Talk
- Power FM
- SAfm
Citations
- 1.
“by becoming the first AI song to enter a Billboard radio airplay chart. So we're now living in a world where an artist can have a voice, a style, an entire human fanbase and not actually exist. Which honestly feels really weird. It feels like something from an episode of Black Mirror. So here's the question I want to know. Have you experienced this yourself? Have you found a great music track and you know you're vibing to it only to discover it's completely AI-based?”
- 2.
“Before you roll your eyes and you think, "Oh no, another person talking about robots taking over the world, just hear me out because I'm actually quite fascinated by it. I'm also a little bit confused, concerned, slightly shook, touched on my studio because AI seems to be creeping into the creative spaces that I always thought were the most human, right? To compete in things like art and music, writing, design and film for the longest time, I thought we would.”
- 3.
“place to be tonight. So we're having a chat about AI in music. I mentioned earlier that I'm conflicted. So I recently came across an AI musician called art icons. At first I had absolutely no clue that it was all AI generated. I thought it was a full-on band doing really great band things right. And when I found out it was AI it wasn't because of some conspiracy uncovered like oh yeah we caught I was not.”
- 4.
“Taiz on social media. Now he's getting backlash on social media. But the one thing that I didn't realize, right? Since the last time we spoke about AI music, I didn't realize how big this music is until this past weekend. I was listening to some music on YouTube and then this gospel playlist. I just started to come through via the algorithm and I online. Those songs were good. Yeah. Yeah, those songs were good. The only thing that gave it away is the album cover. You can see the album cover and the name of the artist. I saw one of the credit design.”
- 5.
“- 20,000 fully AI-generated songs uploaded to streaming services every day making discovery, increasing needs of a court for independent musicians. I don't know about you but I can hear an AI-generated song. You hear it in the tone of the singer. Specifically you hear in the vocals, "Hore, this is not a person." For me, I can, how I know that this is an AI-generated song. It's given”
- 6.
“is transforming the way music industry is moving faster than before, creating songs, producing beats and even learning artists voices in a matter of seconds. So AI does offer exciting new creative possibilities. It does also raise serious questions about copyright, fame and future of human creativity. And specifically for that of the independent artists, they are the most vulnerable as they compete with technology that can produce music instantly.”
- 7.
“7070t and 70t. Hi Clement, do you hear? Please ask your guests if they do not feel threatened by AI because we've seen even professional musicians, producers are now using AI as the avocalist because it's this cheap and sometimes free just to check with them if they are prepared for this or if they're doing anything about it. Thank you. Okay.”
- 8.
“You've got this list, Ranle, South African artists found in AI training datasets. This is music by South African artists that has been stolen by AI. AI is growing everyday. Now AI is coming for South African artists now. And using our skills, the way we interpret our language in our music, now it's copying that now. Where is the class action lawsuit coming? It should come very, very soon. And AI is coming for South African artists now. And using our skills, the way we interpret our language in our music, now it's copying that now. Where is the class action lawsuit coming? It should come very, very soon.”
- 9.
“again one of the issues that is closest to my heart. You touched there on some of the issues facing creatives in the culture sector. One of the key concerns at the moment, of course, is AI. So what is the EU Commission proposing to do to protect creatives whose jobs are being threatened by AI's that have been trained on work stolen from them?”
- 10.
“We know that artificial intelligence is here today and how do we make sure that it's regulated? How do we make sure that it becomes an enabler and it doesn't take from artists? And so all these things have to be done with copyright amendment bill so that artists can get their money and know and make sure that the CMOs, the collective management organizations, organization.”
- 11.
“- Yes. - Who can do these things? Infrastructure becomes another biggest problem in this industry. Policies, legislation as well. So those are the biggest problems and that's why today tech companies can do anything. So your music can just be there like AI and things like that. And because nothing is properly legislated, so we cry foul. But I think with a lot of people, I think,”
- 12.
“- They sound exactly the same, you're just like, "Oh, it's AI." But let's look into current copyright laws. Do you believe that they do enough to protect artists from having their music used to train AI systems? - I think a lawyer would definitely answer this question there, but I think, yes and no. I think the guardrails around what can be published, you need to be a little bit more strict. Thank you.”
- 13.
“- I just came up with a couple of suggestions. One, allow the real artist to opt-in or opt-out of AI. As soon as you upload something on Spotify, Disa, Apple Music, there should be something that you take that says, "I opt-in for my music to be used to train AI." After you generate as a user, the AI should actually cite the songs. Yes.”
- 14.
“and the other two of the artists are getting scanned in all of the stories about these issues. Perhaps it's remembering that the music business is a business at the end of the day. So having the right team by the side and also reading up on the teas and all the fine prints can end up helping you in the long run. So take some time to read that fine print. As a music content creator, have you already seen AI changing how artists”
- 15.
“has been a great contribution of the post, but which utilized social media to distribute it a little bit wider. So, yeah, those things play a role in obviously usage rights. How long do we want them to use or the branch wants to use the content that will determine the rate around it and et cetera. So, very technical again, ends with using data and AI to help us to determine what's fair rates. And if a creator don't get a lot of work, you gotta engage with your own”
- 16.
“and some other radio stations playlists and I'm just like, "Can't you hear this is AI?" Like, "What do you mean?" You know, as a music compiler, I'm sure you should know what is AI and what is not AI. Also, the T's and C's, the rules and regulations of you putting on an AI song, an AI-generated song on the playlist. What does that mean for Sam Prow? What does that mean for Sam Row? What does that mean?”
- 17.
“at this point, because AI has become so integrated in how we use technology, I think the biggest issue would be like a YouTube, for instance, because most artists upload their work on YouTube. It's very difficult for them to get away from. It almost feels like a double-aid sword because you would want people to hear your music, but on the other hand, sometimes you can inadvertently end up uploading it. And then, you know, you know, you can't do it.”
- 18.
“and the president of AI and music and understanding the business side of it. And yeah, man, I think, yeah, it's a few people's people, like I think it's gonna reach a peak where it's just gonna go back to normal and this hype of AI is gonna die out 'cause always the original and the real will always survive. And how do you balance commercial success with staying true to your African rhythmic and cultural roots?”
- 19.
“A.I. is something that we're all grappling with. We engage in with it at varying degrees, but everybody appreciates that it's here and it's here to stay. Many people are wondering, is it like the dot com bubble all over again? Or is it something that we need to take slightly more seriously from an investment point of view? I think that the arts can in fact be both, because if you think about what happens at dot com era is yes, there was a boom in a bath cycle.”
- 20.
“is AI, do you believe AI may help independent artists reach new heights or will it make it even harder for them to just get their coin as you said within the music industry? Is it an advantage or disadvantage having it here for them? Oh, that one's a tough one. I think right now it ends up feeling like a bit of a disadvantage. I don't think any of us could have”
- 21.
“A.I. is no longer just a commercial software. It's now classified as a critical national security infrastructure similar to nuclear technology. And nations are realizing that whoever controls the best AI models controls the future of cybersecurity, economic efficiency and military capability. And this is what sovereign AI is all about, what we've always spoken about. Right. Yes. That's and you've always said...”