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The friction between art and artificial intelligence is intensifying.
Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj, Pearl Jam, Kacey Musgraves, Metro Boomin’, Chuck D, Robert Smith, Kim Petras, Jon Bon Jovi, Sam Smith, The Last Dinner Party and more are among 200-plus names to have signed an open letter to urge tech platforms to “stop devaluing music”.
Issued by the Artist Rights Alliance on behalf of the artist and songwriting communities, the open letter – which you can read in full here – calls on AI developers, technology companies, platforms and DSPs to “cease the use of artificial intelligence to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists.”
While citing that the responsible use of AI has “enormous potential to advance human creativity” it also points to platforms and developers “employing AI to sabotage creativity and undermine artists, songwriters, musicians and rightsholders.” No specific company is named in the letter.
We can on all AI developers, technology companies, platforms and digital music services to pledge that they will not develop or deploy AI music-generation technology, content or tools that undermine or replace the human artistry of songwriters and artists or deny us fair compensation for our work
The ‘Stop Devaluing Music’ open letter, signed by 200+ artists
Part of the letter reads: “When used irresponsibly, AI poses enormous threats to our ability to protect our privacy, our identities, our music and our livelihoods. Some of the biggest and most powerful companies are, without permission, using our work to train AI models. These efforts are directly aimed at replacing the work of human artists with massive quantities of AI-created “sounds” and “images” that substantially dilute the royalty pools that are paid out to artists. For many working musicians, artists and songwriters who are just trying to make ends meet, this would be catastrophic.”
Warning that unchecked “predatory” AI usage will set in motion “a race to the bottom”, the coalition of artists end the letter with a call to action: “We call on all AI developers, technology companies, platforms and digital music services to pledge that they will not develop or deploy AI music-generation technology, content or tools that undermine or replace the human artistry of songwriters and artists or deny us fair compensation for our work.”
As previously stated, no specific company is named in the letter.
In the summer of 2023, Music Week reported that YouTube published its set of “AI music principles”, as well as unveiling the YouTube Music AI Incubator, which started with artists, songwriters and producers from Universal.
“The principles serve as a framework to ensure our products and features enhance artistic expression while also protecting artists rights and the integrity of their work,” YouTube’s head of label relations (UK) Lizzie Dickson told Music Week in our special AI report. “They’re a critical part of our overall approach to AI at YouTube. Understanding the significance of this moment, we felt it was important to be transparent and publish our principles so that the industry could see our guiding framework. Our Music AI Incubator aims to usher in a new era of AI innovation responsibly and collaboratively. We want to work hand-in-hand with this cohort to better understand how AI technologies can be most valuable for them.”
YouTube also revealed plans to address the use of generative AI on the platform, including giving labels the opportunity to request the removal of music content that mimics artists. But approved cloning of artists’ voices is part of YouTube’s AI-related music experiments launched in collaboration with Google DeepMind in November. Dream Track for Shorts allows select creators to use AI-generated voices of artists including Alec Benjamin, Charlie Puth, Charli XCX, Demi Lovato, John Legend, Papoose, Sia, T-Pain and Troye Sivan.
You can revisit our recent deep dive on artificial intelligence, featuring key players in the music industry, here.
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