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According to a new report, the Big Three are considering an AI system to disable notifications, which is currently being discussed with Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.
according to a new reportCurrently, the big three labels – UMG, WMG and Sony Music – are in talks with the major music streaming services to find a way to quickly and easily get them to record AI-generated vocals that sound like popular artists supposed to remove.
The idea, currently being discussed with Amazon Music, Apple Music and Spotify, would work similarly to that proposed in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act – but would cite violations of publicity rights rather than copyrights. However, unlike the DMCA, this agreement appears to be more of a voluntary gentlemen’s agreement than a precedent-backed accord.
Established in 1998, the DMCA offers online services that use, store or transmit copyrighted works protection from secondary liability for copyright infringement – provided they adhere to a notice and takedown system that allows rightsholders to request them to take down copyrighted content to prompt .
Unfortunately, this law wouldn’t apply to most AI-generated “soundalike” tracks, as they don’t technically infringe any protected elements of copyrighted recordings or compositions. Instead, they violate the publicity rights that celebrities can obtain to protect their name and likeness from unauthorized commercial use.
However, invoking publicity rights can be more complicated than copyright because they vary by state and are backed by limited legal precedent. The use of sonic-like vocals for creative purposes can in some cases be protected as free speech, and those rights almost always belong to the artists themselves – not labels. Labels filing reports on behalf of artists (with permission) seems to be the simplest legal process and argument to keep AI-generated soundalikes off primary streaming services.
Meanwhile, the stance of the leading streaming services is at odds with a recent announcement by Audius, a blockchain-based music platform that will allow artists to choose to allow AI-generated works on their artist page. Audius says it would create a separate tab for user-generated content on the artist’s page to avoid confusion with the artist’s own work.