UK to begin labelling AI-generated music
Key Points
- Government taskforce will propose labels for AI-generated content
- Interim report on AI labelling due this autumn
- Digital replicas consultation on AI voice cloning launches this summer
- 66% of music creators see AI as a direct career threat
- All three major labels have signed AI licensing deals
The government will establish a taskforce on labelling AI-generated content, with an interim report due this autumn, as part of measures to protect music fans and creators set out in its new Music Plan.
The taskforce will put forward proposals on best practice for labelling content made using artificial intelligence, which the government said can “help people make informed choices on the content they consume”.
It sits alongside a consultation on “digital replicas”, launching this summer, which will seek views on tackling harms caused by the unauthorised replication of a person’s likeness, including AI-cloned voices.
The measures respond to widespread concern among musicians. According to the plan, 66% of music creators believe AI poses a direct threat to their professional careers, while 90% are concerned about the lack of protections for their voice, image and copyrighted work.
For listeners, labelling would make clear whether a track on a streaming platform was made by a human or generated by AI. The plan also targets what it calls AI “slop”, generative fraud in which bad actors use hijacked distribution accounts to flood platforms with machine-made tracks and skim royalties from the system.
The government backed industry initiatives including the BPI Content Protection Unit, funded by Phonographic Performance Limited, and anti-fraud work by Spotify and Deezer, while the Digital Entertainment Retailers Association is working with UK Music on a sector-wide response.
The government will also publish a review of the tools available for creators to control how their works are used online, and launch a working group on licensing support for independent and smaller music organisations.
A pilot Creative Content Exchange, a marketplace for licensing creative content to AI developers, is already underway.
All three major labels – Universal, Sony and Warner – have struck AI licensing agreements, and 77% of the BPI’s independent record company members view licensing music for AI use as key to future growth.
Sally Davies, Managing Director of Abbey Road Studios and the government’s AI Champion for the creative industries, published her AI Adoption Plan in June, with the government endorsing what it calls an “augmentation-first” approach in which AI supports human creativity rather than replacing it.
