UMG wants Spotify, Apple MusIc to ban most AI-generated songs

Universal Music has issued a large number of takedown requests to Spotify and Apple Music for songs generated using AI because they say that they breach one or more copyrights. Some of the songs are AI-generated covers of hit songs.

UMG also asked Apple and Spotify to block AI systems from scraping music and lyrics from their streaming services for use in future songs. According to The Financial Times, UMG sent an email that reads in part:

“We have become aware that certain AI systems might have been trained on copyrighted content without obtaining the required consents from, or paying compensation to, the rightsholders who own or produce the content… We will not hesitate to take steps to protect our rights and those of our artists.”

Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.