Council of Music Makers criticises lack of representation at government roundtable on AI
The Council of Music Makers has criticised a lack of artist and songwriter representatives at a recent roundtable on the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the creative industries, held by UK government’s Department For Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS).
The music industry boasts significant representation, welcoming UK leaders of three major record labels to participate in the roundtable. However, noticeably absent are voices advocating for artists and songwriters — a move that has faced sharp criticism from the Council Of Music Makers.
Led by Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, the DCMS shared: “Central to the discussion will be concerns about copyrighted material being used without permission to train AI models like ChatGPT and the risk that content created by AI can potentially infringe creative’s intellectual property. The meeting is also expected to cover necessary protections for artists’ likenesses and voices.”
Frazer added: “The UK’s strengths and accomplishments in art and entertainment mean we are well placed to take advantage of developing technologies in this field. But creatives rightly have concerns – and proposals – about how their work is used by artificial intelligence now and in the future, and I want to hear them.”
She continued: “As Culture Secretary I want to maximise the potential of our creative industries and grow them by £50 billion by 2030, creating one million new jobs. I believe that AI can help delivering these goals, but only if opportunities are developed responsibly and in lock-step with industry, which is the ambition behind today’s meeting.”
David Joseph from Universal Music, Jason Iley representing Sony Music, and Tony Harlow of Warner Music were all confirmed attendees for the session. Meanwhile, singular representatives from the film, book, and photography sectors — Framestore Group, the Publishers’ Association, and Getty Images, respectively — were also present.
Additionally, the roundtable included the government’s Intellectual Property Office, the Alliance For IP, and author Nina Schick, known for the book Deepfakes: The Coming Infocalypse. The discussion also follows an influx of major artists speaking out against the impact of AI on the creative industries.
Nicola Soloman, CEO of the Society For Authors and chair of the cross-artform Creators’ Rights Alliance, also represented individual performers and creators.
Criticising the lack of representation, the Council of Music Makers said in an open letter: “We are hugely concerned that the government is forming a roundtable which only gives one single seat to a representative of all creatives across all media (including film, theatre, literature and music), but has three seats for executives from major record companies. This is profoundly unbalanced and tone-deaf.”
They continued: “It is crucial to understand that when corporate rightsholders make decisions about digital policies and digital business models, they do so without consulting the music-making community. These decisions are made unilaterally in secret and are rarely even communicated to music-makers and their teams.”
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