DEFENDING THE RIGHTS OF THE WORLD’S content creators & rightholders

Creativity & technology have always been natural fits, working interchangeably to mutual benefit.

Today, this combination makes hundreds of millions of music tracks available online, at the touch of a button, to a global audience of billions.

Copyright laws are the crucial cornerstone of this modern, digital market. They help bring the world’s music to a global audience, protect the rights of creators and the rightsholders that support them, enable compensation to be paid for the use of works and safeguard a sustainable future for human creativity and culture.

AI has long been a feature of the music sector. However, some AI company developments and uses have not been ethical, responsible or in compliance with copyright laws or other legal requirements. 

In response there are a number of initiatives from those who make, care about or defend music, calling for a fairer AI future. The Human Artistry Campaign champions the vital nature of human created music and is backed by organisations worldwide. Fairlytrained.org certifies Generative AI companies who observe copyright laws when training Large Language Models and developing AI.

Ethical, responsible and lawful AI development that respects copyright and other laws and principles such as data protection, privacy and personality rights is essential for this powerful technology to evolve in a way that benefits society as a whole. AI companies who seek to misuse copyright exceptions such as those available for ‘Text and Data Mining’ (TDM) or ‘Fair Use’ to access the world’s music for AI training including for the purposes of the creation of Generative AI products and services without a licence cause great harm to everyone who has worked so hard to make that music available.  

When it comes to copyright exceptions, conditions need to be satisfied. For example, companies and services seeking to rely on a TDM exception must first have “lawful access” to the copyright-protected material. It is clear that any indiscriminate or wholesale ‘scraping’ of online music or other protected content means by definition accessing that music or content from unlicensed sources and from services that are only licensed to provide music to individual fans for private and non-commercial use. Such scraping does not count as “lawful access” to the music. 

AI companies can ensure ethical and responsible AI by securing appropriate licences in advance from relevant rightsholders, not cutting corners at the expense of the world’s songwriters, artists, rightsholders and consumers. 

Rights should never be ignored by AI companies aiming to accelerate their tech developments or commercial growth. 

The Declaration below is open to rightholders around the world to support these principles and to reaffirm and reserve their rights against unlicensed exploitation.

Some rightsholders including companies and certain collective rights management organisations have already taken steps to reserve their rights, including regarding exceptions such as TDM in the limited circumstances where they might apply. This online resource provides a centralised resource of individual reservations, making it easier for AI companies to be all the more aware of rights reservations.  

Together in chorus we say: “no use without consent, credit & compensation”.

 

Declaration

As rightsholders and on behalf of our songwriter and composer partners worldwide, we affirm the critical importance for Artificial Intelligence (AI) development to be ethical, responsible and licensed and reserve all our rights under copyright without prejudice to any reservation of rights we may have made elsewhere.

Any access, use, reproduction, distribution or exploitation of any copyright-protected musical works and associated literary works or data that we own, control or represent (together “Works”), including by web crawling technologies, data scraping or any and all present or future forms of Text and Data Mining (TDM), for AI training without a valid licence breaches the copyright in the Works and denies our songwriters and composers' appropriate consideration for their work. 

Without lawful access, any unlicensed commercial use or output built on the Works in data or audio or audiovisual form – for example training Large Language Models (LLMs) or Generative AI - also breaches the copyright in the Works. Scraping or accessing music online without a license is prohibited. 

Without limiting the above, all rights in the Works are expressly reserved in relation to relevant Text & Data Mining (TDM) provisions and copyright exceptions, including but not limited to Article 4 of the  2019 EU Copyright Directive, The United States Code (USC) ‘Fair Use’ Exemptions, 2020 Copyright Act of Japan, The 2021 Copyright Act of Singapore, the 2007 Copyright Act of Israel.

There is no legal or moral excuse for the unlicensed access and exploitation of creators’ works for AI training, use or output. 

Respect for laws and rights will ensure rapid but responsible innovation, continued investment and a sustainable future for AI tech and creative sectors worldwide.

KOBALT MUSIC

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UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING GROUP

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SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING

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WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC

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CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING

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DEEZER

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PEERMUSIC

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BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT

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RESERVOIR MEDIA

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PRS FOR MUSIC

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MCPS

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ROUND HILL MUSIC

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MOTUS MUSIC

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ABRAMUS

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APRA AMCOS

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Industry Music

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Endorsements

The following organisations and creators support creative works and an AI future which respects copyright.

They have joined rightsholders above in saying: “No use without consent, credit & compensation”.

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National Music Publishers Association

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MUSIC PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION UK

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PRODUCTION MUSIC ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA

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MUSIC PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES

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THE INTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF MUSIC PUBLISHERS

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INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTION MUSIC GROUP

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FEDERAZIONE EDITORI MUSICALI / MPA ITALY

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MUSIC PUBLISHERS CANADA

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Musikförläggarna/ mpa sweden

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CSDEM / MPA FRANCE

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Verband Deutscher Musikverlage

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music publishers association of ireland

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EMUSA

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asociación de editores de música independientes

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União Brasileira de Editoras de Música / MPA Brazil

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MUSIK FORLAEGGERNE / MPA DENMARK

Reserve your rights

If you are a music company rightsholder, Collective Management Organisation, (CMO), Performing Rights Organisation (PRO), or digital streaming service you are eligible to use this site to declare your support and to reserve your rights against unlicensed AI training.

If you have already done so elsewhere, as is likely the case, here is a central resource to reaffirm those reservations. Doing so does not prevent you from any future action or deal on AI.

To do so: complete the form and submit your logo. Your parent company name & logo will be added to the Rights Reservations list above and business information added to the Supporting Data .csv file.

If you own or control multiple companies, each should be added to the Supporting Data .csv file for full effect. This can be done by either:

a) manually inputting the info for each company to the form

b) clicking Download New .csv File on the right, completing the information then emailing the .csv file to contact@rightsandai.com

Once verified this will be added to the site resource.

If you are not a rightsholder, but are an organisation or individual wanting to support a more legal and fair AI environment you can sign up in the ENDORSEMENTS section below.

Creators are invited to ENDORSE in the section below.

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Endorse legal & fair Ai

A private individual, a creator or an organisation that supports a legal, fair and licensed AI future which better respects creators and their works can endorse the concept of “no use without consent, credit and compensation" via this form.

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