APRA AMCOS Slams AI Companies for Reportedly Stealing Australian Songs

Music by some of Australia's biggest artists has reportedly been stolen by AI companies for datasets.

A new investigation by The Atlantic has uncovered millions of Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand musical works stolen as part of four "giant datasets of songs that are being shared within the AI-development community."

The US publication's AI Watchdog tool allows anyone to look up an artist and see exactly which of their songs have been fed into AI training systems without consent, without a licence, and without payment.

According to APRA AMCOS, some of the biggest names in Australian and New Zealand music are implicated.

From Australia, Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel, Sia, INXS, Kylie Minogue, Nick Cave, Tame Impala, and many more are included.

"These are early findings from a search that will take days to complete. The full picture will be larger still," APRA AMCOS states.

"Midnight Oil. Sia. Crowded House. Lorde. Yothu Yindi. This week, AI companies are asking the Australian and New Zealand Governments for a copyright carve-out. This week, we can show you exactly what they have already taken. No permission. No licence. No payment. These are not bargaining chips, they are the life's work of Australian and New Zealand songwriters," APRA AMCOS Chief Executive Dean Ormston says.

Australia rejected a copyright exception for AI platforms in October of last year.

"Major tech platforms have not come to the table. Not once," Ormstone continues. "Instead they have lobbied governments, circulated policy papers, and proposed solutions designed to extinguish any obligation to pay. The only path forward is a genuine licensing conversation with the people whose work they have been using. We are ready. We have always been ready. The question is whether they are.”

According to APRA AMCOS's recent 'AI and Music Report', ANZ songwriters and composers face a 23% revenue hit without a mandatory licensing framework. APRA AMCOS further reports that ANZ creators "stand to miss out on more than $500 million over just four years."

Among the artists whose work appears in the datasets are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members including Yothu Yindi, Gurrumul, Warumpi Band, William Barton, Christine Anu, Dan Sultan, and Emma Donovan.

Leah Flanagan, APRA AMCOS Director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Programs and Strategy, adds: “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists have not given permission for their work to be used to train these AI datasets. Many of these recordings carry cultural knowledge, language and connection to Country. Their use without consent is not acceptable, these are not just recordings, they are cultural expressions governed by protocols as well as copyright.

“In some cases, this is material that has never been available for commercial use by anyone, on any terms. Any response to AI and copyright must address Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property specifically and must be developed with First Nations communities at the centre.”

From Rolling Stone US