By Sara Fischer, Axios | More than 200 musical artists — including heavy hitters such as Billie Eilish, Katy Perry and Smokey Robinson — have penned an open letter to AI developers, tech firms and digital platforms to “cease the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists.”
Why it matters: It’s one of the strongest positions the music industry has collectively taken to advocate for artists in the AI era.
Between the lines: Unlike other advocacy efforts from creators around AI, this letter specifically addresses tech firms about the concerns of musical artists, such as replicating artist’s voices, using their work to train AI models without compensation and diluting royalty pools that are paid out to artists.
● Jen Jacobsen, executive director at The Artist Rights Alliance (ARA), the trade group representing the artists signing the letter, told Axios, “We’re not thinking about legislation here.”
● “We’re kind of calling on our technology and digital partners to work with us to make this a responsible marketplace, and to keep the quality of the music sound, and not to replace human artists.”
Details: The letter, penned by dozens of well-known musicians within ARA, specifically calls on tech firms and AI developers to stop the “predatory use of AI to steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights, and destroy the music ecosystem.”
● Signatories include Elvis Costello, Norah Jones, Nicki Minaj, Camila Cabello, Kacey Musgraves, Jon Batiste, Ja Rule, Jason Isbell, Pearl Jam, Sam Smith and dozens more spanning every musical genre.
> > > > > > > > > >
Read the full article here:
https://www.axios.com/2024/04/02/musicians-letter-ai-replace-artists
[Our thanks to Jamie Krutz for sending this story. https://www.jamiekrutz.com]
April 4, 2024| Colorado Music-Related Business| Barb Dye