[Commlist] CfP for "Artificial Intelligence and Popular Music" Special Issue of Popular Music and Society

Bondy Kaye and Patryk Galuszka invite submissions for a special issue of 
/Popular Music and Society/ on the theme of artificial intelligence and 
popular music.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is spreading rapidly through 
creative and cultural sectors, including popular music, and is already 
proving to be a disruptive technology. The recording industry, recalling 
earlier technological upheavals such as MP3 files and peer-to-peer (P2P) 
networks, has moved quickly to urge lawmakers to regulate AI. This can 
be seen in recent U.S. legislative proposals to establish intellectual 
property rights protecting artists' voices (the "NO FAKES Act" and the 
"No AI FRAUD Act") and the widely publicized EU AI Act, which outlines 
risks associated with AI systems and which has faced backlash from many 
stakeholders in the European cultural industries.

Yet the implications of AI for popular music reach far beyond legal and 
market concerns. AI covers—such as "Kurt Cobain sings a Frank Sinatra 
song" (or vice versa)—represent a form of amateur cultural play, while 
in professional studios AI is becoming another creative tool, following 
earlier innovations such as Auto-Tune, drum machines, and digital audio 
workstations. Each application prompts us to reconsider creativity, the 
creator–audience relationship, and the contested idea of authenticity in 
music.

We encourage submissions that draw on critical studies of AI and apply 
them to the music industry. Examples include political economy 
approaches, research that foregrounds indigenous and traditional 
knowledges, post-capitalist modes of thought, and studies that explore 
AI and the future of cultural labor and that question the ways AI may 
shift our epistemic understandings of the world around us.

This special issue seeks to examine the impact of AI on popular music at 
this formative stage of its mass adoption. We welcome theoretical and 
empirical perspectives, including—but not limited to—the following topics:

  * The impact of AI on the music industry and music markets
  * AI regulation in the music industry
  * AI clones of popular musicians' voices or styles
  * AI and independence in music
  * AI and virtual artists or holograms
  * AI and the nature of musical creativity
  * AI and musical labor
  * AI and music production, composition, and songwriting
  * AI and "functional" music
  * AI and music education and training
  * How AI contributes to existing inequalities in the music industry.

The timeline for the publication process is as follows:

*_December 20, 2025:_* Deadline for submitting abstracts; feedback on 
abstracts will be provided within 30 days

June 30, 2026: Deadline for submitting full manuscripts (please send us 
your paper as an email attachment)

September 30, 2026: Editorial decisions sent to authors for revisions

November 30, 2026: Deadline for submitting revised papers

May or July 2027: Special issue published

Please submit an abstract (200 words maximum) and author bio(s) (150 
words maximum) by *_20 December 2025_* using the link below:


Abstract submission form <https://forms.gle/oiH1AsnivbdKJjN89>


No payment from the authors will be required.


For any questions about this special issue please contact the editors:

D. Bondy Valdovinos Kaye <(d.kaye1 /at/ leeds.ac.uk) <mailto:(d.kaye1 /at/ leeds.ac.uk)>>

Patryk Galuszka <(patryk.galuszka /at/ uni.lodz.pl) 
<mailto:(patryk.galuszka /at/ uni.lodz.pl)>>


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