The next breakout genre in music might not have a pulse. As AI-generated voices flood streaming platforms, a new category is emerging that could soon demand its own Billboard chart, fanbase, and market.
Craig Fechter is a veteran music producer and the Founder of the AI voice platform Vocs AI. He believes the real disruption in music isn’t coming from synthetic voices but from the industry’s failure to evolve with them.
Top of the bots: “Within the next year or two, I think there’s going to be an AI chart on Billboard,” Fechter says. “It’s going to be tracked, monetized, and people will start gravitating toward an AI market.” He doesn’t see it overtaking the entire music industry, but emerging as its own sub-genre, much like K-pop carved out a dedicated global following. “I think AI will do the same,” he says.
He points to Timbaland’s launch of his AI artist, TaTa, as proof of where things are heading. “That’s going to be the future. Not replacing artists, but creating new kinds of ones.” He’s adamant that clear labeling is essential, not for legal compliance, but for emotional connection. “The general public is going to want to know who they’re listening to. They need to form that bond with the artist, even if the artist is AI.”
Broken record: But while the future of AI music might be racing ahead, Fechter argues the industry's foundation is still stuck in the past. “I am a firm believer that the current state of music publishing and royalty collection is a complete mess, and it’s been a mess for the 20 years I’ve been doing this,” Fechter says.
He recalls having a song aired over 300 times on a major network without it ever showing up on his royalty statement. He only discovered the usage through third-party tracking software. “I wasn’t paid for it at all. Where’s the transparency?” He says the industry runs on an outdated and subjective credit system, making AI just the latest accelerant.
Follow the money: For Fechter, even the most forward-looking debates around AI ethics can’t ignore the broken infrastructure beneath them. While he sees potential in technologies like blockchain, "the difficult part is going to be commercial use after the song leaves our platform," he says. "How do we track that?" He believes a true, usage-based royalty system is nearly impossible when the broader infrastructure can’t even track traditional placements effectively. “It would mean every user would have to submit a split sheet to the pros, which I don’t think is going to happen."
Fechter points to high-profile lawsuits, like those filed against AI music startups Suno and Udio, as symptoms of a deeper failure not just around consent and licensing, but around the industry's inability to adapt its compensation systems. “Everyone wants to talk about ethics, but nobody’s solved tracking,” he says. “How can we compensate anyone fairly if we still don’t know who used what, where, or how?”
AI in the booth: Fechter doesn’t see AI as a one-click song generator but as a practical tool for the demo process. “My writing partners and I did maybe 200 song concepts last year across every genre, from Afrobeats to country,” he says. “It’s difficult and expensive to find good studio singers for every demo, with some costing $200 an hour.” Vocs AI lets him create polished demos to pitch. If a song lands, he hires a human singer to record the final version.
The next VST: AI is picking up where virtual instruments left off. “We’re going to start having