This week, the European Parliament backed calls for greater transparency around AI training data and fair payment where copyrighted works are used. The situation is urgent - generative AI music already accounts for around 40% of tracks uploaded to streaming services, according to Deezer.
Roberto Neri, CEO of The Ivors Academy, said: “Innovation cannot come at the expense of the rule of law. If AI companies can train on copyrighted music without permission, music writers lose control of their work and their ability to earn from it. The solution is straightforward, licensing with consent from creators. Songwriters and composers must authorise how their work is used, share in the value it generates and have transparency over what is being used.”
Across Europe, policymakers are moving towards stronger protections.
Catherine Martin, Head of Policy for The Ivors Academy in Ireland and former Irish Culture and Arts Minister, said: “Momentum is building across the EU for transparency, licensing and fair payment where creative works are used to train AI systems. These are not barriers to innovation, they are the foundations of a functioning creative economy.”
Licensing with consent means upholding three principles:
- Authorisation, creators must decide if and how their work is used to train AI systems.
- Remuneration, if creators’ work generates value they must share in that value.
- Transparency, AI companies must disclose the music they use and label AI generated outputs.
Songwriters and composers have always embraced innovation. But using creators’ work without permission is not innovation, it is theft at an unprecedented scale. Europe is beginning to recognise this and the UK should do the same.
With government decisions on AI and copyright fast approaching, The Ivors Academy has been in Parliament making the case for songwriters and composers at a critical moment for music and its creators.
The Academy has been bringing music writers directly into conversations with MPs and peers. At a recent event in the House of Lords, Roberto Neri spoke alongside Ivor Novello Award-winning songwriter and Board Director Tinie Tempah about the threats generative AI poses to music and human creativity.
Without strong protections, income and value risk being diverted away from the songwriters and composers whose work powers the music economy.
Reports suggest ministers are considering a proposal backed by major AI companies that would introduce a “commercial research exception”. This could allow AI companies to use copyrighted works without permission to train their systems, negotiating licences only later if the technology is commercialised.
Many in the creative industries warn this approach would weaken the UK’s copyright framework and leave creators negotiating from a weaker position once their work has already been absorbed into AI models.
A recent report from the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee warned that the creative industries face a “clear and present danger” from generative AI and called for new copyright exceptions for AI developers to be ruled out.
Working with partners including the Music Publishers Association and organisations across the Council of Music Makers, The Ivors Academy continues to call for the UK to uphold three essential principles in the AI era: authorisation, remuneration and transparency.
The message from music creators is clear. Copyright must be strengthened, not weakened, and songwriters and composers must be put first in the AI era.
