Musicians protest against AI copyright plans with silent album release

Kate Bush, Annie Lennox and Damon Albarn are among more than 1,000 musicians who have come together to record a silent album in protest at proposed changes to copyright law around artificial intelligence (AI).

Musicians have warned that Government proposals to change UK copyright law to allow AI models to be more easily trained on copyrighted material would greatly damage the creative sector and see artists replaced in the long term.

Under the proposals, an exemption to copyright would be created for training AI, so tech firms would not need a licence to use copyrighted material, and creators would need to opt out to prevent their work from being used.

Critics of the proposals have argued that it fails to reimburse artists for AI recreating and copying their work, would stifle creativity, and that the proposed opt-out scheme places an unnecessary burden on artists.

In protest, and to mark the closing of a government consultation on the issue, the group of artists have released the album, titled Is This What We Want?, which features recordings of empty studios and performance spaces – which they say would become the reality of the music business if the changes go ahead.

Billy Ocean, The Clash, Jamiroquai, Imogen Heap and a range of composers, conductors, singers and producers have co-written the album, which includes a number of Oscar, Grammy and Brit Award winners.

The track listing spells out the message: “The British government must not legalise music theft to benefit AI companies.”

All profits will be donated to the musicians’ charity, Help Musicians.

Ed Newton-Rex, the organiser of the album, said: “The government’s proposal would hand the life’s work of the country’s musicians to AI companies, for free, letting those companies exploit musicians’ work to outcompete them.

“It is a plan that would not only be disastrous for musicians, but that is totally unnecessary. The UK can be leaders in AI without throwing our world-leading creative industries under the bus.

“This album shows that, however the government tries to justify it, musicians themselves are united in their thorough condemnation of this ill-thought-through plan.”

In 2023, UK music contributed £7.6 billion to the UK economy, with exports of UK music reaching £4.6 billion.

Over the weekend, Sir Elton John and Simon Cowell backed a campaign opposing the proposals, and Sir Paul McCartney has also spoken out against them.

Although some AI firms have since started making deals to license content, many existing AI models have been trained using data from the public internet, including from news and other publishing websites, which has led to many from that sector also speaking out against the proposed changes to the law.

Dan Conway, chief executive of the Publishers Association, the trade organisation representing book, journal and electronic publishers in the UK, said: “The extraordinary strength of support shown in recent weeks for copyright and our world-class creative industries is something the Government ignores at its peril.

“When Booker, Grammy, Oscar and Nobel prize winners are united in calling on the Government for a fair hearing, we have to hope they listen.

“Publishing is a growth industry supporting tens of thousands of highly skilled jobs nationwide.

“We already contribute £11 billion to the UK economy and are central to creative industries’ growth and UK research and development and are early adopters of AI technology to equip the readers and learners of the future.

“The message to government is clear: the great copyright heist cannot go unchallenged. Big Tech needs to pay for the creative and research content they hoover up to train AI, just as they pay for their electricity and other normal costs of running a legally compliant business.

“We urgently need transparency regulations to lift the lid on AI usage to ensure that the huge opportunities that AI can bring are realised in a way that incentivises growth across the whole economy and is safe and ethical for those who use it.

“The UK is a content superpower and its creative industries, educational institutions and academic research are the envy of the world.

“Establishing fair trading practices and encouraging partnership with, rather than subservience to, Big Tech is the way we lift all the boats and deliver for the UK.”

Also raising concerns about generative AI models are newspapers through the Make It Fair campaign, which saw them put covers on the outside of their front page – criticising the Government’s consultation – organised by the News Media Association (NMA), and backed by the Society of Editors (SOE).

The message said: “The Government wants to change the UK’s laws to favour big tech platforms so they can use British creative content to power their AI models without our permission or payment. Let’s protect the creative industries – it’s only fair.”

Owen Meredith, chief executive of NMA, said “copyright is fundamental to publishers’ ability to invest in trusted quality journalism”, and AI should be no different.

He said: “We’re appealing to the great British public to get behind our ‘Make it Fair’ campaign and call on the Government to guarantee creatives are able to secure proper financial reward from AI firms to ensure a sustainable future for both AI and the creative industries.”

Dawn Alford, executive director of SOE, said the “unprecedented and united action by publishers shows the strength of feeling around the Government’s lack of support for the creative sector when it comes to AI”.