Generative Music Music created by AI. Vector Illustration. Stock Vector

The Recording Academy isn’t issuing a total ban over content created by generative AI services, though. Through a similar process, London-based tech start-up Jukedeck composes AI tracks in seconds using neural network technology. The company was recently acquired by TikTok’s parent company Bytedance, fuelling rumours that TikTok users will soon be able to add machine-generated music to their videos. If an AI tool copied specific melodies or lyrics, for example, that would likely constitute copyright infringement. However, it may be difficult to identify such specific examples of copying, with well-built AI tools generally designed to copy the general sound and feel of music, in part to avoid allegations of copyright infringement.

Changes to music are triggered by instructions from a games-modding (modifying) platform, which relays data on things like the player’s health, whether a fight is starting, or if the player has killed somebody, or died. Onscreen controls also enable both the streamer and viewers to manipulate the sounds in real-time, opening new possibilities for games interaction and engagement. Amper was set up by three former Hollywood film composers to enable users to instantly create entire tracks by specifying the length and structure, tempo, instruments, and mood. Additional editing tools make it possible to tweak tracks to hone the sound. New AI tools allow businesses and individuals without any previous experience of composition or production, to configure their own background music in just a few clicks and simultaneously side-step the complexities of broadcast rights clearance. Many musicians see AI as the jumping-off point for a new era of creativity, able to push music in new and inspiring directions.

• Once a song has been written, the way it’s produced, recorded, and mastered has a big impact on what the finished product will sound like.
• Veed allows for subtitling, editing, effect/text encoding, and many more advanced features that other editors just can’t compete with.
• The unique knowledge embedded during this process produces models that not only embody the organisation’s distinct expertise but are also proprietary in nature, safeguarding the organisation’s intellectual property.
• Copyright Office (USCO) published a position statement stating that it will assess whether there is human authorship when deciding whether to grant registration or not.
• On 15 March 2023, an entirely separate report of Sir Patrick Vallance on the Pro-innovation Regulation of Technologies Review proposed that the UK should “utilise existing protections of copyright and IP law on the output of AI”.

Thought-leader Bernard Marr has claimed that naysayers believe AI could lead to a decline in human creativity and innovation, but an alternative take is that it offers a wealth of new ways to improve imagination and creative thinking. As AI’s foothold in the music industry strengthens, there has been an inundation of thoughts and opinions from all sides of the argument. UK performers rights, the network of property and non-property rights granted to performers, are also unlikely to come into play in this context. This is on the basis that the most relevant restricted act, making copies of qualifying performance recordings, does not apply to the processing of training data by an AI system. The regulation of generative AI still lags behind the rapid development and capabilities of such emerging technology.

Soundraw: Combining AI and Manual Tools for Music Creation

That is why we endorse the forward looking principles of the Human Artistry Campaign () – which put human creativity at the heart of copyright protection. Perhaps, one could refer to existing precedents available in respect of generative AI. Copyright Office (USCO) published a position statement stating that it will assess whether there is human authorship when deciding whether to grant registration or not.

AI has become a hot topic in the music industry in recent months, with new examples each week of astonishing AI-generated music, and concerns voiced about the “widespread and lasting harm” of such tools to music creators and rightsholders. The past six months have seen generative AI advance by leaps and bounds; it has been used to create large-scale ad campaigns, generate celebrity portraits at the Met Gala, and even to write a children’s book. While it’s exciting to play around with large language models like Chat GPT, don’t forget that we have no idea what the inputs for these technologies were. We don’t know what trained them or whether the creators’ consented or what biases may have been introduced unwittingly.

Everyone’s at least a bit scared of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Overall, he has strong experience helping clients navigate the day-to-day queries which arise as part of their commercial operations. Prior to joining the firm as a trainee, Ethan studied for a BA and subsequent MPhil in Classics at the University of Cambridge. Having graduated, he completed the GDL and the LPC at BPP Law School in London. AI-generated music poses both exciting possibilities and potential legal challenges.

There is a complete lack of transparency around the ingestion process for AIs and without this, it will be difficult, if not impossible in some cases, to hold bad actors to account. We’ve dubbed this “music laundering” – a process where you could steal someone’s work, feed it into an AI, and then generate clean, “new” music, just as a money laundering operation might do with stolen money. Firstly, they undermine the mechanism by which people who create and invest in music can earn a living from it, by means of choice in how and where their music is used.. “The recent advances in artificial intelligence have been as rapid as they are transformative. Oliver provides bespoke and innovative reputation management advice to high-profile individuals, family offices, charities, corporations and executives. He has particular expertise advising those in the entertainment industry and luxury brands sector on how to manage and respond to sensitive issues where there is a reputational risk.

Yakov Livshits

The continuous morphing soundscape now forms part of multi-media installation in the lobby of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, by French artist Philippe Parreno. Progress rapidly accelerated in the 2010s, thanks in part to the work of devoted research teams at universities, investments from major tech companies and knowledge-sharing at machine-learning conferences like NeurIPS. DJ David Guetta told the BBC that he is “sure the future of music is in AI…but as a tool”. There is uncertainty in English law both about the correct test for “originality” to be applied and whether the test requires a human author.

With our AI Music Generator, you can create original music and soundtracks in minutes. This eliminates the need for manual composition or searching for the right track. Lastly, Principle #3 talks about how even though generative AI going to require a lot of work to manage on the platform, it can also be used as a tool to fight against copyright abuse on the site. Continuing to invest in AI-powered technology to protect the community of viewers, creators, artists and songwriters. With its ability to generate unique creations, analyse artistic styles, and augment human creativity, AI is redefining what it means to be an artist.

From Mozart’s piano to the early use of synthesisers by jazz legend Herbie Hancock, to the mangled beats of Aphex Twin, musicians have long pioneered new technologies that expand the possibilities of sound design. Now AI and machine learning are helping shape entirely new sounds that empower musicians to express themselves in new ways. Whether AI music can be copyrighted is still under debate, with The US Copyright Office’s current ruling stating that AI music cannot be copyrighted as it is “not the product of human authorship”.

The project demonstrated how recorded music could be freed from its traditionally static existence. AI music has been circulating online with users creating songs that contain cloned voices of artists such as Rihanna, Ariana Grande, and Kendrick Lamar. Listener perceptions are strongly impacted by knowledge of a song’s origins. Upon learning that a song is AI-generated (rather than written and produced by humans), a little more than half of consumers said that they would enjoy it less.

AI cannot generate copyrightable material, says US judges

Last November, at the Stockholm University of the Arts, a human and an AI made music together. The performance began with musician David Dolan playing a grand piano into a microphone. As he played, a computer system, designed and overseen by composer and Kingston University genrative ai researcher Oded Ben-Tal, “listened” to the piece, extracting data on pitch, rhythm, and timbre. Then, it added its own accompaniment, improvising just like a person would. Some sounds were transformations of Dolan’s piano; some were new sounds synthesized on the fly.

The MLC Letter is just one of many ways the Copyright Office is addressing topics related to AI and AI-generated works. Earlier this year, the Copyright Office launched an AI initiative, which includes four public AI listening sessions focused on the use of AI to generate works in creative industries. The listening sessions include ‘Literary Works, Including Software’ (held on April 19, 2023), ‘Visual Arts’ (held on May 2, 2023), ‘Audiovisual Works’ (held on May 17, 2023) and ‘Music and Sound Recordings’ (held on May 31, 2023). In the realm of art and music, AI is pushing the boundaries of artistic expression. PCMag is obsessed with culture and tech, offering smart, spirited coverage of the products and innovations that shape our connected lives and the digital trends that keep us talking. All the latest news and updates on the rapidly evolving field of Generative AI space.

Copyright allows artists and labels to protect their sound recordings (as well as the literary and musical works that underpin them) from copycats. However, the current UK copyright regime does not protect the timbre of an artist’s voice, only a sound recording of it. AI-cloning technology uses deep learning and text-to-speech software to recreate a particular voice.

It difficult to see how a voice/style of singing could attract protection in this way. Under UK law, it is not clear which of the fixed categories of copyright ‘works’ would protect a voice. How do consumer perceptions of AI-generated music compare to AI  in other contexts? Only 11% found AI-generated music more acceptable, while nearly a third found it less so. This could be further evidence of lesser receptivity to applications in personal contexts, and points to the importance of human touch and artistry in a creative field, like songwriting.