Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj, Pearl Jam & 200 Artists call on AI, tech companies to respect Artists’ Rights

More than 200 musicians, ranging from Billie Eilish and Katy Perry to Elvis Costello and Smokey Robinson, have signed an open letter that, rather than calling for government action, encourages the AI, tech, and music industries to develop tools that respect creators’ rights.

“We call on all AI developers, technology companies, platforms, and digital music services to pledge that they will not develop or deploy AI music-generation technology, content, or tools that undermine or replace the human artistry of songwriters and artists or deny us fair compensation for our work.”

The wide-ranging list of artists signing on includes Nicki Minaj, Stevie Wonder, Chuck D, Cake, Peter Case, Pearl Jam, Kacey Musgraves, Jon Batiste, Jon Bon Jovi, Jonas Brothers, and Camila Cabello.

“Working musicians are already struggling to make ends meet in the streaming world, and now they have the added burden of trying to compete with a deluge of AI-generated noise,” said Jen Jacobsen, Executive Director of The Artist Rights Alliance (ARA), the trade group that organized the letter. “The unethical use of generative AI to replace human artists will devalue the entire music ecosystem—for artists and fans alike.”

Full text of the letter and list of signers

“We, the undersigned members of the artist and songwriting communities, call on AI developers, technology companies, platforms, and digital music services to cease the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists.

Make no mistake: we believe that, when used responsibly, AI has enormous potential to advance human creativity in a manner that enables the development and growth of new and exciting experiences for music fans everywhere.

Unfortunately, some platforms and developers are employing AI to sabotage creativity and undermine artists, songwriters, musicians, and rightsholders.

When used irresponsibly, AI poses enormous threats to our ability to protect our privacy, our identities, our music and our livelihoods. Some of the biggest and most powerful companies are, without permission, using our work to train AI models. These efforts are directly aimed at replacing the work of human artists with massive quantities of AI-created “sounds” and “images” that substantially dilute the royalty pools that are paid out to artists. For many working musicians, artists and songwriters who are just trying to make ends meet, this would be catastrophic.

Unchecked, AI will set in motion a race to the bottom that will degrade the value of our work and prevent us from being fairly compensated for it.

This assault on human creativity must be stopped. We must protect against the predatory use of AI to steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights, and destroy the music ecosystem.

We call on all AI developers, technology companies, platforms and digital music services to pledge that they will not develop or deploy AI music-generation technology, content or tools that undermine or replace the human artistry of songwriters and artists or deny us fair compensation for our work”

Agus Martino

Aimee Mann

Ali McGuirk

Alice Randall

Alisa Amador

António Zambujo

Arkells

Ashley Shabankareh

Astrid

Astronomía Interior

Aya

Ayra Starr

Banda Carnaval

Banda El Recodo de Don Cruz Lizárraga

Banda Los Recoditos

BENEE

Benny the Butcher

Bia Marques

Bianca

Big Up

Billie Eilish

Billy Porter

Black Spygo

estate of Bob Marley

Brandi Waller-Pace

Brian Folkins-Amador

Brothers Osborne

Brunno Ramos

Bryan Behr

Bryan Martinez

Budah

Buddy Miller

CAKE

Calema

Calibre 50

Callie Khouri

Caloncho

Calum Scott

Cami

Camila Cabello

Canals

Carlão

Carol Biazin

Carolina Deslandes

Cedella Marley

Cedric Singleton

Chappell Roan

Chase & Status

Chega mais pra Cristo

Chelsea Cutler

Chesca

Chuck D

Ciph Boogie

Clotilde Rullaud

Coey Redd

Colin Linden

Crys Matthews

Czarface

d4vd

Dan Ferrera

Dan Knobler

Dan Navarro

Dan Smith

Daniel Martin Moore

Daniel Quién

Daniela Spalla

Danna Paola

Darius Rucker

Dave East

David Lowery

Declan Sheehy-Moss

Delacey

Diana Krall

Diogo Piçarra

Doce Encontro

Doechii

Don Was

Dylan LeBlanc

East Forest

Ela Taubert

Eli Soares

Elvis Costello

Em Beihold

Emiliano Fernández

Emily Scott Robinson

Engelbert Humperdinck

Enkay47

Erin McKeown

Espinoza Paz

Felipe Araújo

Fernando Daniel

FINNEAS

FLETCHER

estate of Frank Sinatra

Gavin Gray

Gonzy

Greta Van Fleet

Gretchen Peters

Grupo CAÑAVERAL

Grupo Recluta

Hit-Boy

Hugo & Vitor

HYBE

IMAFE Music

Imagine Dragons

Ivan Barias

Iván Conejo

J Balvin

J Gonz

Ja Rule

Jacinto

Jadakiss

Jamie Cullum

Jana Herzen

Jannek Zechner

Jason Isbell

Jason Lindner

Javy Hustle

Jean Rohe

Jeremy Zucker

Jess Glynne

Jim Jones

Joaquina

John Paul White

Jon Batiste

Jon Bon Jovi

Jonas Brothers

Jonathan Taplin

Jordan Rakei

Juan Marcus & Vinicius

Juan Pablo Contreras

Juanes

Julia Michaels

Kacey Musgraves

Kaio Viana

Kart Love

Kate Hudson

Katy Perry

Kevin Aguilar

Kid Pistola

Kim Petras

La Arrolladora

Banda El Limón de

René Camacho

Lasso

Lauana Prado

Laura Burhenn

Laura Veirs

Lee Lewis

Lera Lynn

Lola Índigo

Lola Young

Lou Garcia

Loudon Wainwright III

Lua Lacruz

Luciano Pereyra

Luis Fonsi

Luz Casal

Lynne Hanson

Mac DeMarco

Maggie Vail

Maneva

Manuel Carrasco

Mar.iana

Marc Cohn

Marcus King

Marian Hill

Marisa Liz

Mark Erelli

Mary Gauthier

estate of Mary Wilson

Matheus

Matthew Montfort

Maxx Kreative

Mayra

Mel Granda

Merca Xin Corte

Mergui

Metro Boomin

Mia Salinas

Michael Penn

Michelle Branch

Mikael Eldridge

Miko Marks

Miranda Lambert

Mumford & Sons

Mumuzinho

Nanno

Natalie Jean

Nesk Only

Nick Howard

Nicki Minaj

Noah Kahan

Norah Jones

Olivia Wald

Oney1

Dr. Otis Williams

Patrick Carney

Pearl Jam

Pedro Abrunhosa

Peter Case

Peter Frampton

Planta

Q-Tip

Raphael

Regis Danese

Reins

R.E.M.

Remi Wolf

Rhett Miller

Robert Finkelstein

Robert Smith

Rodney Crowell

Ron Pope

Rosanne Cash

Rosi Amador

Rui Massena

Ryan Tedder

Sam Smith

SER

Sérgio Godinho

Sherlyn Sánchez

Sheryl Crow

Sigrid

Simone Mendes

Smokey Robinson

Stevland Morris agrees

on behalf of himself and

Stevie Wonder

T Bone Burnett

T-Rex

Taylor Díaz

Tech N9ne

The Last Dinner Party

Tift Merritt

Tina Sinatra

Traci Thomas

Trucha

Valentina Fernandez

Vivir Quintana

WD

Will Linley

Windser

Yard Act

Yo Gambii

Zayn Malik

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