The Australian government should ignore claims from artificial intelligence giants that local copyright laws prevent them from investing heavily in data centers, say media and entertainment industry leaders. “Where is the proof that issuing a copyright exemption or law change would bring massive economic benefit to Australians and not just major US tech companies?” said head of the Australian Recording Industry Association, Annabelle Herd.
Source: Industry blasts big tech’s ‘untrue’ copyright investment threats
“It’s entirely possible that in two years we’ll have clarity that’s probably good enough in terms of a set of best practices,” estimated Jessica Litman. But she warned it could be longer, “because these cases are so huge, they are happening in dribs and drabs… so it can take a while to establish a trend.” She said it could be as many as 10 more years until these lawsuits are resolved.
According to Crabtree-Ireland, the real concern is that, even if videos generated by Seedance and other A.I. platforms “are not malicious in intent,” they could “really violate someone’s right to control how their image, their likeness and their voice is used.” The kind of material represented by the Cruise-Pitt battle, he said, “could not be produced by any of the signatories to our contracts — the studios, the streamers — without the specific, informed consent of those individuals.”
US performance rights organization ASCAP has reported its revenue and royalty payout numbers for 2025, with both figures hitting all-time highs. Revenue came in at $1.945 billion for calendar 2025, up 6.0% year over year. Of that, New York-based ASCAP distributed $1.759 billion to songwriters, composers, and music publishers, an increase of 3.7% YoY.
