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Australian producer Josh Fawaz tops radio charts with Like a Prayer cover, but musicians claim it was generated by AI

Australian producer Josh Fawaz has gone from a little-known artist to a viral sensation after his cover of Madonna's Like a Prayer reached the No 1 spot on the National Radio Airplay chart. The track has already gathered over 35 million streams on Spotify and topped iTunes electronic charts worldwide. However, local musicians and researchers are raising alarms, claiming the song displays clear hallmarks of AI music generators like Suno. Critics point to telltale signs such as heavy audio compression, sloppy drums, and vocal artifacts, suggesting the track required no human input other than a text prompt. Fawaz has defended his work on Instagram, stating that he uses AI as a tool and only cares about providing good music to his listeners. The local performing rights association APRA AMCOS confirmed that copyright royalties for the underlying musical work will still be paid to the original human creators, Madonna and Patrick Leonard.