Amid the current influx of AI-generated content, Universal Music Group asked music streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music to block AI-generated music.
Artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content has been on the rise following the release of OpenAI’s latest version of its AI chatbot, ChatGPT-4, and others like it. However, not everyone has been in favor of some of its abilities when left unchecked.
An April 13 Financial Times report reveals that Universal Music Group (UMG) is the latest to express concern about this emerging technology. The music industry giant has asked streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music to block AI services from collecting copyright-protected melodies and song lyrics.
According to a person familiar with the matter, UMG has been sending AI-generated song takedown requests “left and right” as they appear more frequently on streaming services.
A Twitter user posted an example of an AI-generated song featuring a version of famed rapper Jay-Z almost indistinguishable from the real Jay Z. The user said that as a Jay-Z fan, he “enjoyed” the song. , but he didn’t know if he should feel “good or ashamed” for liking AI-generated music.
Until now, AI bots had access to music catalogs from streaming platforms, which developers used to train the technology. According to the report, UMG is “increasingly concerned” about the possibility of AI robots using intellectual property to produce music identical to that of real artists.
A source close to the situation said that this new generation of technology that is emerging poses “significant problems.”
They went on to say that the AI could be asked to compose a song that lyrically resembles Taylor Swift but with vocals and themes from other popular artists like Bruno Mars and Harry Styles.
“The result you get is due to the fact that the AI has been trained on the intellectual property of those artists.”
UMG is taking an artist-first stance, writing in emails to streaming services that “we will not hesitate to take steps to protect our rights and those of our artists.”
The same Twitter user also tweeted a clip of an AI model of Kanye West singing along to tracks from rapper Drake’s song “Hold On.” Examples like this hit exactly the fears that UMG is currently raising about streaming services.
Along with AI-generated music on Twitter and popular streaming platforms, entire YouTube pages are popping up that remake popular music using AI technology.
This issue could be just the beginning of what’s in store for the music industry in its fight against AI technology that exploits intellectual property rights. Google recently announced its own machine-learning music gadget called MusicLM, which will be able to generate “high-fidelity music from text descriptions.”
The application has not yet been released; however, Google has posted a whole page on GitHub of generated sample music with information (keywords) on how it was generated.
