Headlines

IMPALA says WMG’s Revelator acquisition is ‘bad news for artists, fans, and Europe’s diversity’

The statement, published on Thursday (April 2), came one day after WMG announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the independent music platform, which specializes in digital music distribution, rights management, royalty accounting, and real-time analytics. IMPALA acknowledged that the deal reflects well on the independent sector’s capacity for innovation, but argued that it continues a pattern in which independent infrastructure is absorbed by major label groups

Source: IMPALA says WMG’s Revelator acquisition is ‘bad news for artists, fans, and Europe’s diversity’

U.S. Lawmakers Work on Unified Site-Blocking Bill to Counter Online Piracy

Last week’s Supreme Court decision in Cox Communications reshaped the piracy liability landscape, creating new urgency for site-blocking legislation in Congress. This could be addressed by Senator Thom Tillis and Representative Zoe Lofgren, who have been working on bicameral legislation that would require ISPs and DNS resolvers to block foreign pirate sites under court order, TorrentFreak has learned.

Source: U.S. Lawmakers Work on Unified Site-Blocking Bill to Counter Online Piracy

Copyright in AI Prompts: Chinese Court Ruling on Generative AI and Originality

On the facts of the case, the Chinese court, in a case of first impression, held that copyright did not subsist in six sets of prompts submitted to Midjourney and hence the copying of those prompts could not infringe copyright. However, the court suggested that there could be copyright in a more elaborate and specific set of prompts that meets copyright’s standard for originality.

Source: Copyright in AI Prompts: Chinese Court Ruling on Generative AI and Originality

ElevenLabs releases a new AI-powered music-generation app

Voice AI company ElevenLabs has quietly released an iOS app called ElevenMusic that can be used to create music with AI and discover AI-generated music. The new app, which was listed on the App Store for a few weeks and finally released on April 1, suggests ElevenLabs wants to be more than just a voice model company. The company sees tools that use AI to create music and other mediums as a way to grow and protect itself from the eventual commoditization of AI audio models.

Source: ElevenLabs releases a new AI-powered music-generation app

CA’s Newsom Issues AI Executive Order After Trump Push Against ‘Cumbersome State AI Laws’

The executive order’s instructed development of “best practice guidance for departments and agencies to appropriately watermark” all “AI-generated or significantly manipulated images or video.” Longer term, making AI watermarks the norm across the board would, of course, be a sweeping step – and a step with multiple considerations beneath the surface. How would doing so affect the growing collection of creations incorporating, but not solely resulting from, generative AI?

Source: CA’s Newsom Issues AI Executive Order After Trump Push Against ‘Cumbersome State AI Laws’

Thousands of people are selling their identities to train AI – but at what cost?

These gig AI trainers – who upload everything from scenes around them to photos, videos and audio of themselves – are at the frontlines of a new global data gold rush. As Silicon Valley’s hunger for high-quality, human-grade data outpaces what can be scraped from the open internet, a thriving industry of data marketplaces has emerged to bridge the gap. From Cape Town to Chicago, thousands of people are now micro-licensing their biometric identities and intimate data to train the next generation of AI.

Source: Thousands of people are selling their identities to train AI – but at what cost?

Publishers Back Concord Music Group’s AI Suit

Four organizations representing various publishers and content creators have filed an amicus brief supporting Concord Music Group in its copyright infringement lawsuit against AI giant Anthropic. According to a joint statement from the leaders of the four organizations involved, “This case illuminates the critical, collaborative licensing markets that are developing among copyright owners and technology companies for consumer-facing AI products, driving better, safer, and fairer outcomes for all involved.”

Source: Publishers Back Concord Music Group’s AI Suit

RIAA, NMPA file amicus brief backing UMG, Concord and ABKCO in original Anthropic case

The coalition, which also includes A2IM, SoundExchange, SONA, BMAC, the Music Artists Coalition, and the Artist Rights Alliance, filed an amicus brief on Monday (March 30) urging a federal court to reject Anthropic’s fair use defense in the case brought by Universal Music Publishing Group, Concord Music Group, and ABKCO in October 2023. Its core argument is twofold: that AI-generated music already acts as a direct market substitute for human-created works, and that a functioning licensing market for AI training already exists.

Source: RIAA, NMPA file amicus brief backing UMG, Concord and ABKCO in original Anthropic case

Did the Supreme Court Just Hand Elon Musk a Giant Victory Over Music Publishers?

The Supreme Court justices ruled that ISPs and related platforms cannot be held liable for users’ copyright violations unless the service is specifically tailored for infringement or very actively encourages law-breaking piracy. X, which already defeated publishers’ direct infringement claims, now feels it has zero liability for secondary infringement. “If the Supreme Court had issued this opinion three years ago, X believes this court would have dismissed plaintiffs’ contributory infringement claim in its entirety,” X’s attorneys blasted less than 48 hours after the Supreme Court’s verdict. 

Source: Did the Supreme Court Just Hand Elon Musk a Giant Victory Over Music Publishers?

Q&A: The UK’s Copyright Report – A Gift to Creators, a Problem for AI

The UK Government has released its long-awaited copyright report, framed as an attempt to reconcile the competing interests of creators, technology companies and the wider innovation ecosystem. Rightsholders will welcome it, while the UK’s AI sector will find less comfort. Two core policy decisions (on training data and on the ownership of AI-generated outputs) mark a shift away from earlier, more developer-friendly proposals. Both decisions leave significant questions unanswered.

Source: Q&A: The UK’s Copyright Report – A Gift to Creators, a Problem for AI

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