Boy George has launched Artist Included, a new music and technology company that aims to help legacy artists create new master recordings using artist approved artificial intelligence, debuting with a newly recorded version of Culture Club’s classic hit “Karma Chameleon”.
by Paul Cashmere
Boy George has unveiled Artist Included, a new artist focused music and technology company that uses ethical artificial intelligence tools to help established artists create new recordings and regain ownership and commercial control of their work. The company’s first release is a newly recorded version of Culture Club’s 1983 global hit “Karma Chameleon”, timed to coincide with Boy George’s 65th birthday and released in partnership with BMG.
The launch places Artist Included in the middle of one of the music industry’s most contentious debates. As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly embedded in music production and rights management, concerns have grown around the unauthorised use of artists’ voices and likenesses. Artist Included is positioning itself as an alternative model built around consent, rights clearance and direct artist participation.
The company was founded by entrepreneur Paul “PK” Kemsley and entertainment attorney and film producer Jeremy Rosen. Planet Hollywood founder Robert Earl has been appointed Chairman of the Board.
Central to the launch is a new recording of “Karma Chameleon”. The release is not a synthetic AI performance. Boy George returned to the studio and re-recorded the vocal himself. The new recording was then processed using technology developed by Syntiant, which trained its model using archival recordings and demos that were made available with the artist’s approval.
According to the company, the AI tools were used to support and refine the performance, recreating elements of the tonal qualities of Boy George’s younger voice while maintaining an authentic vocal performance by the singer himself. The instrumental track was also newly recorded.
“For decades, artists created the soundtrack to our lives while much of the long-term value moved away from the original creators,” Kemsley said. “This is not about replacing artists or exploiting old catalogues, it is about helping artists create new ones.”
Rosen said the company intends to place artists “at the centre” of the future of AI in music, both creatively and economically.
For Boy George, revisiting one of his signature songs became an emotional exercise.
“Revisiting Karma Chameleon in this way was emotional and creatively inspiring,” he said. “The goal was never to replace the original, it was to celebrate it and let the song keep evolving for new audiences.”
More than four decades after its original release, “Karma Chameleon” remains one of the defining songs of the 1980s. Released as the second single from Culture Club’s 1983 album Colour By Numbers, the song spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and six weeks atop the UK singles chart. It has since accumulated more than 900 million streams on Spotify and continues to generate substantial licensing and synchronisation opportunities.
Boy George has acknowledged that many artists entered recording contracts in their early careers without fully understanding the long-term implications for ownership and control of their work. Artist Included’s model seeks to create new artist-owned masters that can generate future revenue through streaming, film and television placements, advertising, gaming, brand partnerships, remixes, Dolby Atmos releases and direct-to-fan initiatives.
Robert Earl said the project represents an important test case for how artificial intelligence can be deployed responsibly in music.
“Unauthorised AI is not going to do well,” Earl said. “I think it’s a seminal moment.”
Artist Included said it is already in discussions with other artists and their representatives, targeting performers whose careers span the 1960s through to the 2000s.
Alongside Earl, the company’s executive team includes Syntiant chief executive Kurt Busch, former McKinsey executive Patryk Strojny, music industry executive Rob Guthrie and investment strategist Antony Antoniou. Seed investors include Mike Walsh, an early investor in Uber and Salesforce, Doug Raetz of Cresset Sports and Entertainment and Red Light Management.
The success or failure of the new “Karma Chameleon” release could become an early indicator of how receptive artists and audiences are to AI assisted re-recordings. For Artist Included and Boy George, the release represents an attempt to reshape the conversation around artificial intelligence in music by placing creators at the centre of the process.
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