Warner Music Group (WMG) sent letters to tech companies this week, ordering them not to use the label's music to train artificial intelligence technology without permission. Sony Music sent similar letters to more than 700 companies in May.
“It is imperative that all uses and implementations of machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies respect the rights of all those involved in the creation, marketing, promotion and distribution of music,” Warner said in a statement.
It continues, “all parties must obtain express permission from WMG to use… any creative works owned or controlled by WMG or to link or absorb such creative works in connection with the creation of datasets, as inputs for any machine learning or AI technologies, or to train or develop any machine learning or artificial intelligence technology.”
The notices from Sony and Warner come in the wake of the AI Act, legislation passed in the European Union in May. “Any use of copyrighted content requires the authorization of the copyright holder concerned unless relevant copyright exceptions and limitations apply,” the act notes. “Rightholders may choose to retain their rights in their works or other subject matter to prevent text and data mining, except for the purposes of scientific research.”
If the companies take this step, then “providers of general-purpose AI models must obtain authorization from rights holders if they want to perform text and data mining for such work.”
The Cold War between the music industry and much of the artificial intelligence world has been heating up in recent months. Record companies are adamant that AI companies will have to license their music if they want to use these vast catalogs of recordings to develop song-making technology.
However, most AI companies are not interested in paying. They often argue that their activities fall under “fair use” — the US legal doctrine that allows unlicensed use of copyrighted works in certain circumstances.
In June, the big three companies sued two music AI companies, Suno and Udio, accusing them both of “willful copyright infringement on an almost unimaginable scale.” “These lawsuits are necessary to strengthen the most basic rules of the road for the responsible, ethical and legal development of productive artificial intelligence systems and to end Suno and Udio's flagrant infringement,” said the RIAA's chief legal officer. Ken Doroshow he said in a statement.
In a response to the suits, Suno's CEO Mikey Shulman he said his company's technology is “designed to produce entirely new results, not to memorize and regurgitate pre-existing content.” Udio said that “stand[s] behind our technology”.
