Cloudflare is acquiring artificial intelligence data marketplace Human Native, the company said Thursday, as it expands its push to develop transactions between AI developers and content creators. “Content creators deserve full control over their work, whether they want to write for humans or optimize for AI,” Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince said in a release announcing the news.
Source: Cloudflare acquires AI data marketplace Human Native
As part of its 25th birthday celebration, the Wikimedia Foundation announced a series of new partnerships with AI tech companies that are now customers of its commercial product, Wikimedia Enterprise. Developed by the foundation, Wikimedia Enterprise allows large-scale reuse and distribution of Wikipedia content, as well as content from other Wikimedia projects.
There are many more buyers in the marketplace today and they bring a wide range of approaches. Some are highly disciplined, while others are focused on acquiring deals to build portfolios of assets that are not correlated to the financial markets. Some buyers concentrate on legacy-only catalogs, others target newer songwriter catalogs with go-forward songwriting arrangements attached.
Generative AI start-up Udio has formed a licensing agreement with Merlin, a popular digital licensing provider for thousands of independent labels and distributors. The announcement — which arrives a few months after Udio signed similar licenses with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group — will now allow independent labels, distributors and artists to earn money by allowing their recordings to be used in AI training.
Source: Udio Strikes AI Licensing Deal With Merlin for Independent Labels
A leading Google public affairs executive has admitted that the tech giant does not believe it should have to pay to use unpaywalled content for AI training. Roxanne Carter told the Lords Communications and Digital Committee on Tuesday that Google wants to create “wholly new content” and not replicate publishers’ work. “What the AI model is trying to do is analyse huge amounts of data to identify patterns and statistical relationships between words, language concepts. It is not an information retrieval system.”
Source: Google IP boss: We shouldn’t pay for AI training on ‘freely available’ content
News publishers have urged the government to fundamentally reconsider the proposed “hybrid” copyright licensing framework for artificial intelligence (AI) training, recommending that news content be categorically excluded from any mandatory or blanket licensing regime. Publishers argue that journalism warrants a distinct policy treatment given its constitutional role, time-sensitive value, and implications for national security and democratic governance.
Source: Publishers urge govt to exempt news from AI copyright regime, back voluntary licensing
A federal appeals court ruled on Monday (January 12) that songwriters can use US copyright law to reclaim their songs worldwide, not just in the US, a decision that could change how the music industry handles decades-old agreements between songwriters and publishers. The decision centers on “termination rights,” a provision in copyright law that lets songwriters reclaim songs they sold off years earlier.
In a note sent last week to client publishers, Ingram Content Group warned of the “growing trend” of AI companies purchasing and scanning print books train their large language models, and said publishers could opt out of selling to these companies. Ingram acknowledged that it may not always be able to identify if the buyer is an AI company, but said it “will make reasonable efforts” to honor the wishes of publishers who don’t wish to sell to them.
Source: Ingram Lets Publishers Opt Out of Book Sales to Tech Firms
Australia’s Copyright Tribunal finalized this licensing-rate hike in a mid-December decision, and the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) today “acknowledged” the development. At a glance, “acknowledge” might not seem an appropriately enthusiastic verb; a double-digit rate jump is, after all, significant. But the major-label-led PPCA had been pushing for a comparatively sweeping licensing-scheme overhaul.
Source: Australia Preps 38% Commercial Radio Recordings Royalty Hike
Bandcamp is placing a ban on AI-generated songs, the company announced in a Reddit post on Tuesday (Jan. 13). Specifically, Bandcamp is no longer permitting songs that use generative AI in all or a “substantial part” of their process on the platform. It also noted that it does not allow the use of any AI tools “to impersonate other artists or styles.” It is not clear how Bandcamp will determine which songs use AI substantially and which do not.
Source: Bandcamp Bans AI-Generated Songs in a First for Major Online Music Platforms