More than 40 years after the original release, Boy George and Culture Club have re-recorded their chart success “Karma Chameleon” – with AI that recreates the vocal characteristics of the original 1983 recording. In addition to digital formats, the single will also be released on vinyl in red, gold and green, the colors mentioned in the song, with a redesigned cover. The record marks the launch of Artist Included, a music technology company co-founded by Boy George’s manager Paul Kemsley and entertainment lawyer and film producer Jeremy Rosen. Boy George serves as creative director.
When asked why he re-recorded the song, Boy George has a simple answer: “Control!” he tells Rolling Stone. “Have a say in where it goes. ‘Karma Chameleon’ is a secret weapon. A song that leaves the audience hungry because they’re dying to hear it – it was always a real pleasure to sing live. But what it means commercially: It’s like having something incredibly powerful with your name on it, and you have no say in where it goes.”
The impetus for the re-record came from a commercial sync license for “Karma Chameleon” with Richard Branson for Virgin Voyages. Culture Club signed with Branson’s Virgin Records in 1982, and Boy George has maintained a close relationship with the entrepreneur ever since. According to Kemsley, Branson paid around $4 million for the deal – $2 million of which went to the master rights holders – while Boy George only received an appearance fee because he never owned the masters of his biggest song.
“Karma’s a bitch,” states Boy George. “When we wrote this song, we weren’t thinking 40 years ahead. We weren’t thinking about longevity. This song has stayed in the collective memory because of the zeitgeist of its creation. It’s become part of a lot of people’s lives. To have it back under control to some extent now is very exciting.”
The new version sounds warmer and sits a little deeper in the mix than the original, but remains so true to it that it seems like a remaster. The re-recording was produced by JJ Blair and Culture Club guitarist Roy Hay, with additional production by the song’s original producer, Steve Levine. Before the session, the AI was trained using archived demos that Levine had kept for decades and licensed for this project. The instrumentation was re-recorded by Hay, Culture Club bassist Mikey Craig and session musicians. Only the singing is AI-supported.
Bar singer himself
“When I went into the studio to record it, I was like a bar singer imitating himself,” says Boy George. “You hear where you place things [singt die erste Zeile von ‚Karma Chameleon‘]. You can hear where you use your voice: in your nose, in your throat or in your chest. What you instinctively do at 22, you no longer do at 40 or 65. There’s this choppy way of singing that you forget after playing the song live for years. It sounded very European and youthful. Over the years I’ve taken it in a much more bluesy direction, stretching out the notes. It’s all about the nuances. When you sing something live for 40 years, it changes form. It’s interesting to go back to the original recording and recapture that feeling.”
Getting close to the original vocally is a real hurdle for most musicians whose voices change over time. It took Artist Included 18 months to get the AI under control. In the first version, Boy George sounded like “Pinky and Perky, two pigs on helium in a cartoon,” says Kemsley – a reference to a children’s show in which the titular characters sing in high, fast voices. The technology has now matured and the plan is to re-record the entire back catalog of Culture Club and Boy George. Kemsley estimates it will take two weeks – as long as it takes Boy George to sing each song.
“I was a skeptic,” Boy George admits. “I thought, ‘This will never work.’ But I like this version [von ‚Karma Chameleon‘] actually prefer. For me, as the person who originally sang it and has sung it again, the beauty of this version is: it has the sound of that time, but the warmth, the maturity and the integrity of everything I’ve learned in my life.”
Decades without a Masters
Kemsley, who has managed Boy George since 2014, describes the project as an attempt to rebalance the music industry’s long-unbalanced economics. “This record has been making millions of dollars for almost 45 years – but not for George,” says Kemsley. “The whole thing seems deeply unfair. You sign your life away at 22, then wait 35 years for the rights back, but still don’t get any income from the master recordings. Over the years, bands try to get their masters back and they never succeed because the major labels claim it’s so-called work-for-hire.”
To better understand it, a record label often owns or controls the master rights to a recording – a contractual point that is established when the artist is signed. This concerns the recording itself; Text and composition are a completely independent right, which is referred to as publishing and, in contrast, depends on the composition – and thus accompanies the song through every new recording. Rerecords therefore create a new master and can benefit publishing by bringing the artist into new conversation and rekindling interest in the underlying work.
With Rerecords, many artists are contractually prevented from releasing a new, faithful version for a certain period of time. Longtime artists sometimes invoke Section 203 of the US Copyright Act to reclaim their masters after 35 years. They are rarely successful because record companies often classify the masters as work-for-hire.
The artist gets the lion’s share
At Artist Included, the structure is designed so that the artist receives the lion’s share of the income. “The industry I was in no longer exists,” notes Boy George. “Artists like me are expected to continue working in this model regardless. I haven’t done that in years. I’ve always said I’m the only one who realizes the ’80s are over. You want to preserve the spirit of that moment to some extent, but you move on. AI is here to stay – openly discussing these possibilities is exciting. And being ahead of the game in how people use them is pretty exciting to me too.”
Given Culture Club’s ugly breakup with former drummer Jon Moss, which ended in a costly settlement, re-recordings of their songs also have the practical advantage of no longer requiring his consent to use the original masters – even though all four band members are credited as songwriters.
“He still gets something out of it,” Boy George clarifies. “Jon is part of who we are [damals als Band] have done.” However, Kemsley is quick to point out that Moss is not part of what they are doing now with the Rerecords and cannot claim any share in it. The band will see more publishing revenue, and as a credited songwriter, Moss will continue to receive publishing revenue – but he will not share in the new master revenue.
“Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” next
The next song in the queue is another Culture Club classic: “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me.” Artist Included’s AI is ready for this as Boy George’s voice has already been saved for training. The company is also in talks with publishers and other artists, mostly from the ’80s and ’90s – but no names are being mentioned yet. Kemsley says the talks weren’t a hard sell.
“People will react to what they see and hear,” says Boy George. “It’s much more impactful if they see it published and experience what can happen.”
Kemsley points out that Boy George turns 65 – the retirement age in the UK – the day before the new “Karma Chameleon” is released. “We’re not retiring,” Kemsley clarifies. “Quite the opposite. We’re going back to the beginning and doing it all again. We’re going to change the way revenue flows to the artist. And we’re going to have a lot of fun doing it.”