Don’t legalise music theft!

More than 1000 musicians have come together to release a silent album protesting the UK government’s planned changes to copyright law, which will make it easier to train AI models on copyrighted work without a licence.

The album, titled Is This What We Want?, features recordings of empty studios and performance spaces, representing the impact on artists’ and music professionals’ livelihoods that is expected if the government does not change course.

Under the heavily criticised proposals, UK copyright law would be upended to benefit global tech giants. AI companies would be free to use an artist’s work to train their AI models without permission or remuneration. The government’s proposed changes would require artists to proactively ‘opt-out’ from the theft of their work – reversing the very principle of copyright law. ‘Opt-out’ models are near impossible to enforce, have yet to be proven effective anywhere else in the world, and place enormous burdens on artists, particularly emerging talent.

The album is co-written by more than 1000 musicians, including Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, Billy Ocean, Ed O’Brien, Dan Smith, The Clash, Mystery Jets, Jamiroquai, Imogen Heap, Yusuf / Cat Stevens, Riz Ahmed, Tori Amos, Hans Zimmer, James MacMillan, Max Richter, John Rutter, The Kanneh-Masons, The King’s Singers, The Sixteen, Roderick Williams, Sarah Connolly, Nicky Spence, Ian Bostridge, and many more. The group includes recording artists, composers, conductors, singers, and producers, and features winners of Oscars, GRAMMYs and BRIT awards.

The track listing spells out a simple message: “The British government must not legalise music theft to benefit AI companies.”

In 2023, UK music contributed a record £7.6 billion to the economy with exports of UK music reaching £4.6 billion. Under proposed changes to UK copyright law, the government risks diminishing music’s proven economic success, extinguishing jobs in the music industry and undermining Britain’s global soft-power advantage.

Ed Newton-Rex, the organiser of the album, said: “The government’s proposal would hand the life’s work of the country’s musicians to AI companies, for free, letting those companies exploit musicians’ work to outcompete them. It is a plan that would not only be disastrous for musicians, but that is totally unnecessary: the UK can be leaders in AI without throwing our world-leading creative industries under the bus. This album shows that, however the government tries to justify it, musicians themselves are united in their thorough condemnation of this ill-thought-through plan.”

Kate Bush, one of the artists involved in the album said: “In the music of the future, will our voices go unheard?”

Composer, pianist and producer Max Richter, one of the artists involved in the album, said: “The government’s proposals would impoverish creators, favouring those automating creativity over the people who compose our music, write our literature, paint our art.”

Singer-songwriter Naomi Kimpenu, one of the artists involved in the album, said: “I fear that we will become the last generation of artists that can build careers in UK music. We cannot be abandoned by the government and have our work stolen for the profit of Big Tech. These proposals will shatter the prospects of so many emerging artists in the UK. If AI steals the rewards of creativity, it destroys that creativity. The government’s plan would be a dystopian future no one voted for, and we must choose a different path.”

All profits from the album will be donated to the musicians’ charity Help Musicians. The full list of musicians and groups involved can be seen at
https://www.isthiswhatwewant.com/ which will be live from the time of album launch.

[Source: press release]

#IsThisWhatWeWant?

Help raise awareness by sharing the album and its message with friends and colleagues, and around your network. Use the hashtage #IsThisWhatWeWant? when sharing on social media.

Write to your MP to protest the government’s planned changes to copyright law.

isthiswhatwewant.com