The global music industry is entering a period of transformation when forced to adapt to the wave of AI artificial intelligence.
Two years after AI hit "BBL Drizzy" caused a storm because of a simulation of Drake's voice, copyright and artist rights continue to be the center of the dialogue between music giants and AI startups.
The three leading record labels, Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Records, have sued a series of companies such as Udio and Suno for copyright infringement, and put pressure on TikTok for AI content rampant on the platform.
The labels are also developing AI detection tools to track how their music is exploited. But now, instead of facing head-on, the two sides seem to be finding a mutually beneficial path, at least economically.
According to Bloomberg, music startup Klay has become the first company to sign a contract with all three major record labels. Klay calls itself an ethical AI platform when developing a service that allows users to re-composed licensed songs in many different styles.
Warner describes Klay as a tool to help elevate artists, ensuring creators are recognized and rewarded.
Along with that, UMG reached an agreement with Udio in October and Warner has just settled its lawsuit this week. The deals include licensing music and creating new revenue opportunities for artists. Suno alone is still in the litigation round.
However, the AI music making model promises to be more complex than traditional music. Record companies want to apply a payment system based on playback, which has been criticized by many artists as unfair even to original music.
The biggest problem is when users create an AIsion in the style of a famous artist, who will receive the copyright? And if that AI mixing spreads on TikTok, attracting millions of views, who will the profits be divided to and according to what principle?
In fact, the AI music ecosystem is chaotic. According to Spotify, the platform deleted up to 75 million junk tracks in 12 months.
One notable case is the song I Run by the artist HAVEN, which was mistaken for performed by Jorja Smiths voice, before being deleted due to the AI singing problem. After that, HAVEN had to repost the version using the real voice and many listeners even preferred the AI version.
The future seems to be more complicated as Klay and major labels prepare to launch an official remaking platform, licensed AI music will go hand in hand with countless black market AI versions on the network.
The songs will be continuously posted, downloaded, edited, and opened up a matrix of questions about ownership and copyright.
The current cooperation between record labels and AI startups shows that the music industry is choosing a difficult but inevitable path, which is to accept music created by AI, as long as it is still profitable.
