Label Signs First AI Artist: Here's How Creativity Can Open Doors for You

Are Doors Opening for AI Artists?

Following Capitol Records' debacle with its AI artist FN Meka 🌐↗, whom it signed and dropped within nine days in August 2022, major labels have, at least publicly, avoided signing or promoting any AI artists.

Fast-forward to 2025, the ubiquitous use of AI music technology, and the viral success of The Velvet Sundown 🌐↗, and the current environment has enticed at least one record label to dip its toe into the AI artist waters again.

Let's face it, it's called the music business for a reason. Record labels, publishers, and music licensing agencies must go where the money is, or they will be out of business.

The willingness of the public — at least over 1.4 million members of the public and counting — to accept and embrace an AI act such as The Velvet Sundown (whom many people did not realize was AI), undoubtedly presents an opportunity for labels.

First-Ever Signing of an 'AI Music Designer' as an Artist

On July 24, 2025, Hallwood Media announced it had signed a groundbreaking deal, with the first signing of an "AI Music Designer."

The artist, who goes by Imoliver 🌐↗, is a human creator who "uses the AI-powered platform to develop his lush sonic landscapes." Imoliver is reportedly the most-streamed creator on Suno, the leading AI music generation platform.

The label released Imoliver's song "Stone" on August 8, which had reportedly garnered over 3 million plays by the end of July on Suno. His album will drop on all platforms on October 24.

As an "AI music designer," Imoliver doesn't limit himself to a single vocalist. He uses different AI voices for various songs, as well as creates music in multiple genres.

The independent music label Hallwood Media was founded by Neil Jacobson, the former president of Geffen Records, according to the Hollywood Reporter. 🌐↗

Whether this signing represents the first of many to come remains to be seen. If audiences embrace AI-generated music, labels will surely follow suit.

Creativity Is the Key That Unlocks the Doors to AI Music Success

I don't claim to have all the answers. Still, I firmly believe that the more creative and original approaches songwriters and musicians take with the use of generative AI, the better their chances of acceptance and success within the music industry will be.

A few things have always worked in the music business: Innovation, originality, creative approaches, and fresh twists on the familiar.

These techniques will remain powerful in any artistic endeavor. Utilizing these tools is the key to standing out with generative AI. Remember, AI is simply a tool. It's another instrument.

1. Learn the rules so that you can break them

Some people loathe rules. Some artists think the true "artiste" avoids all convention. In reality, that's something very few musical artists have the luxury of. Here's why:

1. Genres exist for a reason. A musical genre is a category of music defined by shared characteristics such as style, form, instrumentation, cultural context, or emotional expression. Conventions are established that audiences identify with and thereafter expect to be there. When they aren't, the audience is disappointed. Nowadays, there are subgenres and sub-subgenres, some of which enjoy wider popularity than others.
2. The audience seeks familiarity. Most people don't like change. They actually don't want something completely different. When they say they want something "new," what they really mean is: "I want something the same but different." So "new" really means they want genre conventions delivered freshly.
3. Groundbreaking artists are rare. Truly pioneering artists are the ones who establish new genres or styles. This is a risky proposition. It's how the phrase "starving musician" came to be.

An artist can be ahead of their time, and the audience won't get it, and perhaps never will. Mainstream audiences tend to flock to the simple. Otherwise, classical and jazz musicians would dominate the charts if it were about musical complexity and superiority — but it's not.

Instead, many popular songs feature melodies that are similar to nursery rhymes in their simplicity. I don't mean that to be snobby or judgmental. On the contrary, simple, catchy hooks are what people can instantly sing along to and love.

Many cutting-edge artists spend their whole career as an underground or indie act, never cracking the mainstream. There's nothing wrong with this, but understand that this is the path you take when you choose to blaze a trail.

2. Pick a Lane and Become an Expert

You have to think about what you're after musically. How do you want to express yourself? If you seek mainstream success, this typically has well-established genres, song forms, conventions, and the like.

You'll have to learn all these, learn audience expectations, and dissect successful songs to have an understanding of what makes them appeal to listeners.

Only then will you begin to develop a radar about what parts of the song you can (and should) change to make things fresh, and what "rules" you must follow to keep the audience happy.

You have to know what themes, titles, and even specific lyrics have been covered by other hit songs in the genre so that you'll see where you can inject fresh ideas and not repeat what someone has done before you.

3. What You Can Learn About Originality From One-Hit Wonders

Many one-hit wonders are songs that broke all the rules and conventions of their time, while some were the result of perfect timing. Many one-hit wonders are "weird," in that they don't fit neatly into any category.

What made them work: Sometimes it's a catchy hook, a unique or quirky lyric, an offbeat style, a fresh trend, a cultural moment, or even a dance craze. These elements made them feel new and exciting compared to everything else on the radio.

What to look for: Use one-hit wonders to inspire your own creativity. What made them catchy? What made them different? Figure out what rules the songwriters broke. Particularly, the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s saw the most unique one-hit wonders, and are the best decades to start your study.

When you study one-hit wonders, focus on the conceptual elements of these songs that you can incorporate in your songs today. It could be a unique hook, production element, instrument, arrangement, or song section. Look for what's special and stands out.

I remember reading an interview with hit songwriter Holly Knight in the magazine Music Connection. She was talking about working with producer and hit songwriter Mike Chapman and what she learned from him. I'm paraphrasing here, but she said he told her something to the effect of follow the rules of the successful song forms, but do something weird in the bridge.

What I take away from that is to use an established song form so the audience will have that familiarity they're looking for. It's a given that you need a strong chorus hook and lyric. However, the bridge is that one area of a song where you have a little freedom to do something fresh, and as Chapman termed it, "Weird." That's your space to give the audience something they aren't expecting.

Summing It Up and Some Bonus Tips

Do these things when you use generative AI to create music:

1. Direct AI at every stage of the creative process with specific, detailed prompts. Don't try to write the whole song at once. Do things in sections.
2. Give AI your creative ideas — don't just take. If AI provides all the creativity, you won't be able to copyright your song. Therefore, aim to deliver the majority of creative ideas, or at least rewrite most of what AI gives you.
3. Don't take the first thing AI gives you. That's a starting point. Keep building. Polish and craft each line until it shines. This will take you beyond 95% of people using these tools and make your work stand out.
4. Document every step of your creative process utilizing AI. Log the name of the tool, the date, the time, what AI wrote, and what you wrote.

➡️ Download our checklist to help you keep track.

AI Song Human Contribution Checklist | ↓📁 (PDF 155.33 KB)

5. Learn the rules of songwriting. Learn the main song structures, or at least the key ones for the genre you're writing in. Learn the common rhyming patterns. Only when you understand the rules can you creatively break them in ways that will delight your audience rather than lose their interest.
6. Become an expert in the genre you want to write in. Know the popular songs, especially the biggest hits, as well as the artists, conventions, styles, past trends, and current directions. This knowledge helps you generate unique ideas that will separate you from songwriters and artists.
7. Your greatest weapons for creativity are originality, fresh twists, and innovation. Spark your imagination by listening to some "one-hit wonders." These songs tend to break convention in some way. Use them as inspiration and tools for learning techniques you can apply to your songs.

🎵 Need Help with AI Song Submissions or Copyright?

If your AI-generated song was rejected for copyright or by publishers or music licensing agencies — don't panic — there's help!
👉 Scroll to the link below for Country Demo Studio's AI-to-Human Song Service. They can help with rewriting country songs, as well as those in the pop, rock, contemporary Christian, and Americana genres. They can also help you get real musicians and singers on your songs to make them industry-ready for submission.

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