Musicians and AI closer to harmony after licensing deal
The world’s most popular AI music platform has struck a deal that could usher in a new era of artists getting paid by tech companies, campaigners say.
Suno, a platform that allows users to create music through text commands, announced a licensing deal with Warner Music Group that settled a lawsuit brought by the label. Warner and other labels accused Suno of copyright “theft” after it trained its AI model on music scraped from the internet without artists’ permission.
More than 100 million people have used Suno, including artists such as Timbaland, and it was valued at $2.45 billion this week. Udio, a rival to Suno, struck licensing agreements with Warner, home to Coldplay, Charli XCX, Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa and Bruno Mars, last week and with Universal Music Group last month. Campaigners say the deals show that ministers do not need to change copyright laws to try to lure AI companies to the UK.
Ed Newton-Rex, a composer and chief executive of Fairly Trained, a nonprofit that certifies AI companies for fairer training data sourcing, compared it to when illegal music downloading was replaced by streaming. He said the music and AI industries were “moving out of the Napster phase and into the Spotify phase”. Newton-Rex added: “This is a massive win for creators.”
Owen Meredith, chief executive of the News Media Association, said: “The government must recognise that the uncertainty it has generated around UK copyright law is stalling further progress.”
Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, said last week that she wanted to “reset” the copyright issue, indicating that she was sympathetic to artists’ demands not to have their works scraped by AI companies without payment.
Under the Suno-Warner deal the AI company will change its software and only allow the downloading of new tracks to paid users. This is designed to stem the flow of pure AI music, which has alarmed artists who say it crowds out their work. Artists will be able to opt in to allow their likeness and sound to be used by Suno users, who often instruct the AI to “make a track in the style of …”
The Future of Music Coalition, which lobbies for musicians’ rights, posted on X that there were “not enough details about this settlement to be able to really evaluate it”. It added: “Opt-in only is good, and changes to the model are important but it’s no secret that plenty of musicians would prefer to see Suno sued into oblivion.”
No comments:
Post a Comment