Universal Music Group Tells Spotify, Apple to Block AI From Stealing Songs

Universal Music Group (UMG) is on a mission to block artificial intelligence from taking lyrics and melodies from their copyrighted songs.

As the Financial Times reports(Opens in a new window), UMG—which produces a third of the global music market and has Taylor Swift, Elton John, and The Weeknd in its artist roster—reportedly sent emails to Spotify and Apple asking that they take action to stop AI bots and developers from using its songs to mimic popular tracks and artists. 

According to an email viewed by FT, UMG told the music-streaming services that “certain AI systems might have been trained on copyrighted content without obtaining the required consents from, or paying compensation to, the rightsholders who own or produce the content.” The email added: “We will not hesitate to take steps to protect our rights and those of our artists.”

A person familiar with the situation tells the FT that music-generative AI produces remixes of existing songs that borrow lyrics from one artist and put them in the style of another.

A UMG spokesperson told the Financial Times: “We have a moral and commercial responsibility to our artists to work to prevent the unauthorized use of their music and to stop platforms from ingesting content that violates the rights of artists and other creators. We expect our platform partners will want to prevent their services from being used in ways that harm artists.”

Spotify and Apple did not immediately respond to a requests for comment.

In January, Google previewed an AI that can transform text prompts into music that lasts several minutes, though Google said at the time that it had “no plans to release models at this point,” in part due to the risks of “potential misappropriation of creative content.”