The AI audio-generation unicorn ElevenLabs announced the launch of a new model that allows users to generate music that’s cleared for commercial use. This move marks ElevenLabs’ expansion beyond its main focus thus far in its three years of existence, which has been building AI audio tools. ElevenLabs is a leader among companies making text-to-speech AI products, and it has expanded into conversational bots and tools that translate speech into other languages.
Rights
Canadian Author Sues Four AI Companies for Copyright Infringement
J.B. MacKinnon of Vancouver has filed class action lawsuits against Anthropic, Databricks, Meta, and Nvidia, alleging they illegally used copyrighted works by Canadian writers to train their large language models. The lawsuit claims MacKinnon’s books were part of a 196,640-book dataset that Nvidia used without securing licensing fees or author consent. “The models were entirely built on the mining of copyrighted work,” MacKinnon told the CBC.
Source: Canadian Author Sues Four AI Companies for Copyright Infringement
Recognition Music prices $372M bond deal backed by Justin Bieber and Shakira catalogs
Recognition Music Group has priced its USD $372 million asset-backed securities (ABS) offering on July 30, with the bonds carrying a 5.604% coupon and yielding 1.7 percentage point over the benchmark. The bonds were three times oversubscribed, suggesting strong investor appetite for music royalty-backed debt.
Source: Recognition Music prices oversubscribed $372M bond deal backed by Justin Bieber and Shakira catalogs
Stability AI is developing a legit ‘opt in’ artist marketplace amid lawsuits over scraping
UK-based Stability AI, which faces lawsuits over allegedly scraping images without authorization to train its AI models, is looking at developing a marketplace where artists can license their work for AI training. CEO Prem Akkaraju told the Financial Times in an interview that the proposed marketplace would allow creators to voluntarily submit artwork and receive compensation when AI companies use their content for model training.
Amazon to Pay New York Times at Least $20 Million a Year in AI Deal
The financial terms of the multiyear deal, which haven’t previously been disclosed, offer a window into how publishers and artificial-intelligence companies are valuing news content in the midst of a seismic change in how consumers seek information online. The annual payment amounts to nearly 1% of the Times’s total 2024 revenue. It was the first AI-related licensing pact for the Times and Amazon’s first such agreement with a publisher.
Source: Amazon to Pay New York Times at Least $20 Million a Year in AI Deal
Copyright Lawsuit Accuses Meta of Pirating Adult Films for AI Training * TorrentFreak
Adult film producers Strike 3 Holdings and Counterlife Media have filed a significant copyright infringement lawsuit against tech giant Meta. A complaint filed at a California federal court alleges that their films were downloaded via BitTorrent for AI training purposes. With at least 2,396 movies at stake, potential damages could exceed 350 million dollars.
Source: Copyright Lawsuit Accuses Meta of Pirating Adult Films for AI Training * TorrentFreak
Trump Rejects Idea of Paying Copyright Holders for AI Training
President Trump waded into the complex issue of paying copyright holders whose works are used for AI training, saying it is impractical and would put the U.S. at a disadvantage to China. “You can’t be expected to have a successful AI program when every single article, book or anything else that you’ve read or studied, you’re supposed to pay for,” Trump said. “You just can’t do it, because it’s not doable.”
Source: Trump Rejects Idea of Paying Copyright Holders for AI Training: ‘It Just Doesn’t Work That Way’
Artists rage over changes to WeTransfer’s new terms of service
If you have ever needed to send a file larger than 20mb, you have probably used or at least heard of the online file-sending service WeTransfer. You may have also heard, earlier this month, a chorus of uproar on social media led by artists sharing screenshots of WeTransfer’s updated terms of service agreement that granted the company the right to use all materials transferred via their service, without any remuneration to the uploader or regard for their privacy.
Creator Orgs Rally in Support of Copyright Case Vetter v. Resnik
A coalition of music creator advocacy organizations has filed an amicus brief in Vetter v. Resnik, a copyright case currently before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The brief urges the Court to affirm that U.S. copyright termination rights apply worldwide—an interpretation that would significantly expand protections for songwriters and music creators in the global marketplace.
Source: Creator Orgs Rally in Support of Copyright Case Vetter v. Resnik
European Creators Slam AI Act Rollout, Warn Copyright Protections Are Failing
A broad coalition of groups representing European writers, performers, producers and publishers issued a joint statement on Wednesday, warning that Europe’s AI Act is not properly protecting copyrights. In a joint statement, groups, including those representing European actors, writers, journalists, film producers, musicians, translators, and visual artists, took aim at the implementation of the act, which was passed last year and hailed as the world’s first and most far-reaching government regulation of artificial intelligence technology.
Source: European Creators Slam AI Act Implementation, Warn Copyright Protections Are Failing