Artificial Intelligence and Popular Music <https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/artificial-intelligence-and-popular-music/> Dear colleagues, We 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> For any questions about this special issue please contact the editors: D. Bondy Valdovinos Kaye <d.kaye1@leeds.ac.uk> Patryk Galuszka <patryk.galuszka@uni.lodz.pl>