What Dolly Parton Really Wants To Happen After Her Death

The ever-iconic Dolly Parton was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame after much hesitation on her part. The induction motivated her to realize a dream of hers and release a rock-and-roll album. The album is titled "Rockstar" and will be released on November 17, 2023. At a press conference for the "Rockstar" album, Parton was asked about a contentious topic — if artificial intelligence (AI) technology would be utilized to create a hologram version of herself for performances, similar to what ABBA has done.

"I think I've left a great body of work behind ... " Parton said in response (via Daily Express YouTube). She hoped that her albums and work will be her legacy and, in regards to new technologies like AI holograms, Parton added, " ... I'll have to decide on how much of that high-tech stuff I want to be involved in because I don't want to leave my soul here on this Earth. I think with some of that stuff I feel like I'll be grounded here forever, so when I'm gone, I want to fly with it, you know. But I'll be around, we'll find ways to keep me here ... "

Someone who Dolly Parton wanted as a rock and roll music partner but will not be featured on "Rockstar" — Mick Jagger — has also weighed in on the thought of AI holograms in musical performances. Jagger admitted that " ... I haven't really honestly thought about it," when asked about holograms for the Rolling Stones while being interviewed on Apple Music Hits. However, despite not having seen their show at the time of the interview, he called ABBA's holograms a "technology breakthrough" and expressed potential interest in the medium. He added, " ... who knows what technology lies in store down the road? We're already in an AI world of doing this stuff, and you can do a lot of musical stuff with not very complicated computerization, as well" (via MusicRadar).

Perhaps the Rolling Stones will one day use AI holograms of their own. Until then, American Songwriter has used ChatGPT to dream up lyrics for a Rolling Stones and Wu-Tang Clan collaboration. However, there are some valid copyright concerns about easily accessible AI programs for non-superstars to play around with.

A major music company feels the same as Dolly Parton — hesitant about new AI technologies for music making. Copyright concerns come into play when people use programs to create AI-generated songs with another singer's voice and then release them on streaming services. The viral song "Heart on My Sleeve" used AI versions of Drake and The Weeknd's voices and caused quite a stir in the music industry before being pulled from streaming services.

Following that song's release, the music company Universal Music Group (UMG) shared a statement to the Financial Times speaking out against the AI company Boomy for supposedly using bots to up their streaming numbers. UMG also implored streaming services to keep AI programs from training with their music on the streamers: "We have a moral and commercial responsibility to our artists to work to prevent the unauthorized use of their music and to stop platforms from ingesting content that violates the rights of artists and other creators. ... " (via Esquire).

The Senior VP of Communications at UMG, James Murtagh-Hopkins, called AI programs using UMG's music to train " ... both a breach of our agreements and a violation of copyright law ... " (via The Verge). To try and navigate these new technologies, the U.S. Copyright Office has set new guidelines regarding AI works.