Swifties, your girl is not playing around.
Taylor Swift’s company, TAS Rights Management, has filed to trademark her voice in the UK, the European Union and Australia. The goal: stop AI-generated fakes of her voice from tricking people into thinking she endorsed something she didn’t.
Quick facts
- What
- A “sound mark” for the spoken words “Hey, it’s Taylor Swift”
- UK + EU
- Filed Oct. 6
- Australia
- Accepted by IP Australia on Oct. 12
- U.S.
- Three applications filed in April, including “Hey, it’s Taylor” and a photo of her with a pink guitar
Why it matters
AI can now copy almost any voice in seconds. Fake celebrity ads and fake songs are everywhere.
A trademark gives Taylor a new legal tool to go after fakes that use her voice or likeness to sell a product, a message or a cause. If it works, expect a lot more artists to follow her lead.
Real talk: if it doesn’t sound like Taylor, it probably isn’t. Keep it locked to WLIT.FM.
Source: Music Business Worldwide. Photo: Paolo V / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
