Universal Music Group has released a Spanish version of Brenda Lee’s 1958 hit “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by leveraging SoundLabs’ artificial intelligence technology. Named “Noche Buena y Navidad,” the reimagined holiday classic was produced with the approval of Brenda Lee herself and crafted under the direction of award-winning Latin music producer Auero Baqueiro. Universal Music emphasized that this release exemplifies a model for using AI respectfully, ensuring full artist authorization.
The use of AI in the entertainment industry has sparked ethical debates, especially around copyright and artist consent, after several high-profile incidents involving unauthorized AI-generated content. This project, however, aligns with ethical standards, utilizing SoundLabs’ MicDrop, an AI vocal plug-in that transforms voice into various vocal or instrumental models. In this rendition, Lee’s lead vocals were recreated in Spanish, using an AI vocal model based on her voice. The song retains the original instrumental and background vocals, creating a familiar yet novel holiday track that Universal Music describes as evoking the experience of a young Brenda Lee recording the song for the first time.
In June, Universal Music formalized a partnership with SoundLabs, enabling the creation of official, high-quality AI vocal models. This agreement allows artists to use their own voice data to train these models, retaining ownership and full artistic control over their digital likenesses, thus setting a standard for ethical AI integration in music production.
