More than 1000 artists have contributed to a silent album that is protesting the use of AI in the music industry. Among those are Kate Bush, Damon Albarn, New Order, and Annie Lennox. The album is called Is This What We Want? and its 12 track titles make the sentence “The British Government Must Not Legalise Music Theft To Benefit AI Companies.”
The album is in protest, specifically, over UK government plans that would let artificial intelligence companies train on copyright-protected unless they specifically opt-out. “The government’s proposal would hand the life’s work of the country’s musicians to AI companies, for free, letting those companies exploit musicians’ work to outcompete them,” says Ed Newton-Rex, the album’s organizer, composer who also works for Fairly Trained, a “non-profit that certifies generative AI companies for training data practices that respect creators’ rights.” “It is a plan that would not only be disastrous for musicians, but that is totally unnecessary: the UK can be leaders in AI without throwing our world-leading creative industries under the bus.”
The 12 tracks feature the over 1000 artists as co-writers but The Guardian reports that one of the silent tracks was recorded at Kate Bush’s studio. She wrote in a statement:
Over one thousand musicians are jointly releasing this album today to protest the UK government’s planned changes to copyright law.
If these changes go ahead, the life’s work of all the country’s musicians will be handed over to AI companies for free.
None of us have a say in it.The UK is full of pioneering, highly creative and imaginative artists. The government’s willingness to agree to these copyright changes shows how much our work is undervalued and that there is no protection for one of this country’s most important assets: music.
Each track on this album features a deserted recording studio. Doesn’t that silence say it all?
I’m very happy to have contributed a track to this project and to join the protest.
Please help protect the music makers and our heartfelt work. We make it for you, not for it to be taken and used against us.
In the music of the future, will our voices go unheard?
Other artists who are part of the protest album include The Pet Shop Boys, Hans Zimmer, The Clash, Imogen Heap, Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon, Sam Fender, Billy Ocean, and Jamiroquai. The album stream is below.