The Pop Corporation

We wrote a thing saying that there was trouble afoot with AI music, regarding the music industry. We figured there’d be some legal issues with the copying of valuable assets, but we figured it would take a while for the bizz to get their ducks in a row. However, less than 24 hours after we wrote our piece, it’s already kicking off.

You’d think that there’s more trouble ahead, because ‘copying’ an artist is not unlike ‘fair use’ or ‘parody’, but Universal Music Group are coming in hot after the AI generated track by Drake and The Weeknd was torn offline.

The ‘Heart on My Sleeve’ track was on YouTube and now it isn’t. It was also uploaded to other sites, where it has now been yeeted into oblivion. Obviously, if you search for the track, other people have uploaded it. Squeeze one spot and three come up in its place, right? The music industry might know this, but it won’t stop them.

And go to YouTube, and type in AI music, and there’s rapidly expanding amount of soundalikes, ‘new’ material, silly things and more.

So are we heading into a new period like the Napster years, with big companies spending huge amounts of their time to do takedowns and more? We might be! It’s an absurd situation, but genuinely, whether you like it or not, there’s something about this whole thing that feels very Those Embracing It versus Those Hating It. The music bizz will be putting increased pressure on YouTube, TikTok and everyone else, and it’s all about to get messy.

And here’s a thing – this ‘Heart On My Sleeve’ track had millions of plays. That’s easily enough for a decent chart position, regardless of whether it would be accepted into an official rundown or not. Whether it’s curiosity or not, that’s potential. And that’s all people who create things are interested in.

Universal Music Group offered the following statement regarding AI-generated tracks: “Universal Music Group’s success has been due, in part, to embracing new technology and enabling it to empower our artists. We’ve been doing this with our own innovation around AI for some time. With that said, however, the training of generative AI using our artists’ music (which represents both a breach of our agreements and a violation of copyright law) as well as the availability of infringing content created with generative AI on DSPs, begs the question as to which side of history all stakeholders in the music ecosystem want to be on: the side of artists, fans and human creative expression, or on the side of deep fakes, fraud and denying artists their due compensation.”

“These instances demonstrate why platforms have a fundamental legal and ethical responsibility to prevent the use of their services in ways that harm artists.  We’re encouraged by the engagement of our platform partners on these issues — as they recognize they need to be part of the solution.”

It’s only just begun.