Original Coverage & Source Attribution: www.independent.co.uk
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The UK is “lagging behind” when it comes to protecting musicians’ livelihoods from being threatened by AI, industry experts have warned, ahead of an AI summit organised by Andy Burnham at Beyond the Music festival this week.
A growing number of musicians have been expressing their alarm about how the developing technology is outpacing the industry’s ability to regulate it. There is concern over AI being used to write songs or produce images and videos of artists, while the spread of pornographic deep-fake images of Taylor Swift in 2024 drew outrage over how AI can be used to abuse women in entertainment.
Musicians such as Bad Bunny, SZA, Nick Cave have also condemned AI programmes for using their vocal likeness, while Jorja Smith’s record label took legal action this year against a dance act, Haven, after their track “I Run” became a viral TikTok hit and made it into the UK Top 40. Smith’s label claimed the track directly infringed on her rights by using an AI clone trained on her vocals. The original version of “I Run” was subsequently banned from streaming platforms and suspended from the charts in the UK and US.
“We should all be concerned about the replacement of human creativity, ignoring moral rights and the flattening and appropriation of culture,” Tom Gray, chair of the Ivors Academy, told The Independent. “Overall, unregulated generative AI feels like an innovative way to make a bad problem much, much worse. Skint musicians only getting skinter. A profession already under threat, but hugely valued by society, in peril.”
A number of countries and US states have taken steps to tackle this. In March 2024, Tennessee became the first US state to introduce legislation to protect musicians from having their vocal likeness exploited by AI for commercial purposes – making it illegal to replicate an artist’s voice without their consent. However, the legislation does not prevent artists’ work being used to train AI models, a practice that has resulted in lawsuits against companies such as OpenAI. In Australia, songs that are largely or wholly created by AI have been banned from the charts, while Sweden has also banned songs created wholly using AI.
Speaking to The Independent ahead of industry festival Beyond the Music, which was co-founded by Burnham in Salford, Manchester, co-founder and organiser Sarah Pearson said there is “an enormous amount to do” in the UK.
“The UK is lagging behind,” she said, citing a lack of legal framework that would support creators over exactly how their work and identity might be used by AI.
Dr Jo Twist, CEO of the BPI (British Phonographic Industry), told The Independent there had been a “worrying rise” in AI-generated deep-fakes, AI slop and streaming fraud in recent years. “This diverts royalties away from creators and rightsholders – often into the pockets of fraudsters – and robs artists of their creative identities and can be highly damaging to their reputation,” she said.
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“Tech companies, platforms, rightsholders, creators and governments have a responsibility to work closely together to tackle deep-fakes and streaming fraud, which dilute revenues and stifle the potential for responsible innovation and growth.” Streaming fraud involves the use of bots to repeatedly play songs and skew metrics.
Musicians and record labels have also complained about the number of AI tracks flooding streaming services. A study in November last year from streaming service Deezer estimated that 50,000 AI-generated songs were being uploaded to the platform every day – 34 per cent of all music submitted – while songs created entirely with AI have been creeping into the charts.
Just this week, Sony Music revealed it had asked digital platforms to remove more than 260,000 AI-generated tracks impersonating its artists – including Harry Styles, Adele, Britney Spears and Michael Jackson. This is double the 135,000 tracks it sought to remove by the end of March this year, The Financial Times reported. “We will keep enforcing our artists’ rights and expect platforms to act quickly and to prevent the same content from reappearing,” Sony told the publication “But it’s becoming an uphill struggle.”
Pearson also warned that much of the conversation surrounding AI and the creative industries had been dominated by how AI might negatively affect creators, with panic and uncertainty overtaking practical solutions, while acknowledging that the anxiety was understandable.
“Creators are being asked to navigate an extraordinary technological shift while there is still uncertainty around consent, copyright, remuneration, identity and the value of their work,” she said. “It is difficult to ask people to embrace change when they don’t yet feel protected within it.
“What we are trying to do through the summit is create a space for genuine cooperation – bringing creators, rights holders, technology companies, policymakers and the wider creative industries together to move from fear and uncertainty towards practical solutions.”
The music industry has “long embraced” innovation and technology, including generative AI, Twist said, and could present “significant opportunities” for artists, businesses and the wider creative economy “if harnessed and developed in the right way”.
“But,” she continued, “it’s vital that artists and rightsholders are properly recognised and compensated when their intellectual property is used.”
She cited the work already being done in the recorded music sector to help fans make “fully informed decisions” when discovering and enjoying music. In July, for instance, the IFPI unveiled a new set of principles to govern recordings developed with AI for inclusion in official music charts, with AI-developed songs only qualifying if they meet three core criteria. The principles were outlined by a coalition of music companies including the “big three” major record labels: Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group.
“The recorded music industry wants to secure a successful and growth-led future for music in the age of generative AI,” Pearson said. “We’re strongest as an industry when we are united.”
Beyond the Music festival takes place in Salford, Manchester, until Friday 9 October.
