Innovation or Copyright Infringement? The issue of AI in Music Publishing
Now that more and more people are using AI as a creative tool, Music Publishers are proposing the guidelines to ethical AI use.
Following the recent popularity of AI generated songs that imitate artists, the Independent Music Publishers International Forum (IMPF) have provided guidelines for AI developers on how AI can be used without infringing on the rights of artists.
This was to ensure that artificial intelligence continues to be a tool that empowers artists rather than replace humanities contribution.
As the current discourse on the ethics of AI continues to swarm all creative industries, Music Publishers are trying to navigate the grey area of what is copyright infringement and what isn’t.
IMPF have suggested that AI developers should have express permissions and records for any music used in the computers training process, as well as music being specifically labelled as ‘AI Music’.
Recent controversies between AI Company and Music Publisher
This week (starting 16th October), a renowned Music Publisher has sued an AI Company for alleged “systematic and widespread infringement of their copyrighted song lyrics”.
Artificial Intelligence is trained by ingesting massive amounts of text and data from the internet and certain AI models generate output based on the copied text.
Song lyrics which have been generated without the correct licences have ranged from The Beach Boys to Beyonce and have appeared with a whole range of prompts that do not seek the lyrics of these artists.
The publisher stated that “Just as [AI companies] do not want their code taken without its authorization, neither do music publishers or any other copyright owners want their works to be exploited without permission.”
How will RouteNote Publishing combat potential copyright infringements from AI?
As more regulations are placed on AI to protect copyright holders, the more protected artists will be.
RouteNote Publishing will soon be able to collect royalties for the use and display of your lyrics – this means we are protecting the copyrights of all our users and correcting any infringements for you!