https://wearethemusicmakers.co/latest Music tech and AI in music: the news that matters, what we think about it, and a directory of the tools. en-us Mon, 26 Oct 2026 12:30:00 GMT https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/ai-music-class-actions-tracker https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/ai-music-class-actions-tracker A living table of the six proposed class actions that musicians have brought against Suno, Udio and Google, with court, filing date, procedural stage, last development we could confirm, source and the date we read it. No class has been certified in any of them, so no musician is yet a class member. Mon, 26 Oct 2026 12:30:00 GMT We are the music makers legallawsuitsclass-actionai-musicartist-rightsindependent-artistssunoudioformat-tracker https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/artmaster-2-4m-ai-instrument-teaching https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/artmaster-2-4m-ai-instrument-teaching Prague's ArtMaster has raised a $2.4 million seed round for Artie, an iOS app that listens to you play piano and gives real-time feedback. It checks the notes you play and your timing. What it can't check, and teachers can, is how your hands got there. Mon, 26 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicmusic-educationfundingartmasterpiano https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/suno-shared-workspaces-custom-models-studio-updates https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/suno-shared-workspaces-custom-models-studio-updates Suno now lets teams share song libraries in Workspaces and lets Premier users share custom models trained on their own uploads, a week after Studio got tighter timing, clip stretching and fade curves. The tools point towards a collaborative studio. Suno's terms say nothing about who owns a shared model or the songs made with it. Mon, 26 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicsunocollaborationdaw https://wearethemusicmakers.co/opinion/publish-detector-error-rates-not-thresholds https://wearethemusicmakers.co/opinion/publish-detector-error-rates-not-thresholds The labels' subpoena fight with DistroKid has revived calls for distributors to publish everything about their AI detectors. The best counter-argument, that disclosure helps spammers beat the filter, is right about methods and wrong about error rates. Here is where we think the line goes. Mon, 26 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-detectionai-musicdistributiondistrokidpolicyformat-counter-take https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/ai-mastering-how-it-works https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/ai-mastering-how-it-works Automated mastering services and assistants analyse your mix, compare it with a target, and set EQ, compression and a limiter to close the gap. This guide explains that loop step by step, what the measurements underneath it are, and the limits you should know before you trust the result. Standards and manuals checked on 25 Oct 2026. Sun, 25 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers masteringai-musicworkflowsloudness https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/youtube-music-ai-labels-fully-partly-no-gen-ai https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/youtube-music-ai-labels-fully-partly-no-gen-ai YouTube Music began labelling AI-generated songs on its player on 14 Oct 2026, and the labels are coming to the main YouTube app. Partners declare Fully, Partly or No Gen AI, and YouTube's own detection fills the gaps. Here is how to declare, where the lines fall, and how it compares with Spotify's AI Credits. Sun, 25 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicyoutube-musicmetadatastreaming https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/eu-ai-act-for-musicians https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/eu-ai-act-for-musicians The EU AI Act does three things a musician should know about: it makes general-purpose AI providers keep a copyright policy and publish a summary of their training content, it requires deepfake audio to be disclosed and AI output to carry machine-readable marks, and it points rightsholders to the EU text-and-data-mining opt-out. This guide sets out what each rule says, when it applies, and what it does not do, from the regulation text and European Commission pages read on 24 Oct 2026. Sun, 25 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers eu-ai-actai-musicartist-rightscopyrightai-training https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/ai-co-producer-without-losing-your-sound https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/ai-co-producer-without-losing-your-sound An AI co-producer can get you past a blank session fast, and it can just as fast pull every track toward the same average. These are practical rules for keeping your own voice: decide what the tool is for before you open it, feed it your material, edit its output, and keep notes on who made what. The legal points come from the US Copyright Office and Spotify, read on 24 Oct 2026. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicworkflowssongwritingcopyright https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/audio-watermarking-explained https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/audio-watermarking-explained AI audio watermarks hide a signal in the sound that a detector can find later. Here is how the main systems work, what Google and Meta claim, what independent benchmarks found when they attacked them, and what a positive or negative result can and cannot tell you about a track. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-detectionprovenancewatermarkingai-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/license-your-voice-for-ai https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/license-your-voice-for-ai Some AI platforms will pay you to let other people use a model of your voice. Their own terms decide who consents to each use, how you get paid and what survives if you pull out. Here is what ElevenLabs and Kits.ai actually say, as read on 24 Oct 2026, and what to check before you sign up. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicvoice-cloninglicensingroyalties https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/spotify-one-year-ai-credits-verified-what-to-switch-on https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/spotify-one-year-ai-credits-verified-what-to-switch-on Spotify's one-year AI update says no single signal decides what counts as slop, so the signals you control matter more. Here is what to switch on, what you can't apply for, and what each tool doesn't do. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicspotifystreamingworkflows https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/ai-flag-appeal-kit https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/ai-flag-appeal-kit None of the big three distributors publishes an appeal process for an AI flag. Here is what DistroKid, TuneCore and CD Baby each say in their own help pages as of 24 Oct 2026, the evidence pack to build before you write, a reply you can adapt, and the moves that make a wrong flag worse. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicai-detectiondistributiondistrokidworkflows https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/choose-a-distributor-2026 https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/choose-a-distributor-2026 Four of the best-known DIY distributors charge in three different ways: a yearly subscription, a one-off fee plus a commission, or a subscription with a cut on the side income. They also set three different AI rules. Here is what DistroKid, TuneCore, CD Baby and Ditto say on their own pricing and help pages as we read them on 24 Oct 2026, and how to work out which model costs you least. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers distributionroyaltiesai-musicworkflows https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/disclose-ai-use-through-distributor https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/disclose-ai-use-through-distributor You never tell Spotify or YouTube how you used AI. You tell your distributor, and it turns your answers into DDEX fields that every store reads in its own way. Here is the path one answer takes, the three places it can lose detail or go missing, and what to check before and after release, as we read the primary pages on 24 Oct 2026. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicdistributionmetadataddexcreditsworkflows https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/fix-generated-stems-in-your-daw https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/fix-generated-stems-in-your-daw Stems from a song generator often drift against the grid, carry a noise floor and fight each other in phase once you lay them out in a DAW. This guide gives the order to fix them in: lock the tempo at the source if you can, warp what is left, take noise out gently, and check polarity and mono before you mix. Every tool setting is taken from the vendor manuals, read on 24 Oct 2026. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicstemsmixingworkflowsdaw https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/hybrid-ai-idea-daw-record-workflow https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/hybrid-ai-idea-daw-record-workflow Song generators are good at the first ten minutes of a track and bad at the last ten hours. This guide sets out a hybrid workflow: sketch with AI, move the parts into your DAW as MIDI and stems, then replace, perform and mix the record yourself, keeping a log of which parts a human made. Tool details are from vendor help pages read on 24 Oct 2026. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicworkflowsdawmidistems https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/prep-stems-for-ai-mixing-mastering https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/prep-stems-for-ai-mixing-mastering Automated mixing and mastering services only hear what you upload. This guide pulls together what two of them, RoEx Automix and LANDR, actually ask for in their own help pages: lossless WAV, every stem starting at 0:00, honest labels, no limiter on the bus and real headroom. Then a pre-upload checklist and why we think the prep matters more than the service you pick. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers mixingmasteringstemsworkflowsai-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/prompts-for-editable-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/prompts-for-editable-music Most prompt advice aims at a finished-sounding song. If you plan to finish the track yourself, you want the opposite: sparse, steady, isolated material at a known tempo. This guide turns the vendors' own prompt guidance from Suno and Stability AI into prompts for parts you can edit, with what each instruction is for. Read on 24 Oct 2026. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicpromptingworkflowsstemsdaw https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/protect-your-voice-from-ai-cloning https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/protect-your-voice-from-ai-cloning Copyright protects your recordings, not your voice. What protects the voice itself is a patchwork of state laws, court orders and platform rules. Here is what each one covers as of 24 Oct 2026, the takedown routes that work today, and what to do before anyone clones you. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicvoice-cloningcopyrightdistributionworkflows https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/record-deal-red-flags https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/record-deal-red-flags Three parts of a contract decide most of what an artist gives away: how long it lasts, how the money flows back to the label, and what the other side may do with your recordings and voice in an AI model. Here is what to look for in each, the laws that already limit some of them, and the questions to ask before you sign, as we read the sources on 24 Oct 2026. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers record-dealsartist-rightscopyrightai-musicdistribution https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/text-to-midi-vs-text-to-audio https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/text-to-midi-vs-text-to-audio Text-to-audio models hand you a finished-sounding recording. Text-to-MIDI models hand you notes: pitches, lengths and velocities you can edit, re-voice and play on your own sounds. Here is how the two approaches differ, what research systems such as MusicGen and text2midi actually output, and why the symbolic route keeps more of the song in your hands. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers midiai-musicworkflows https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/who-owns-ai-assisted-song-india https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/who-owns-ai-assisted-song-india Indian law has a clause for computer-generated works, but the first court to look at a Suno-made song was not convinced it is protected at all. Here is how ownership splits between lyrics, composition, recording and voice, what the Delhi High Court actually ordered on 25 Mar 2026, and what to do before you release. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musiccopyrightindiaroyaltiesworkflows https://wearethemusicmakers.co/opinion/spotify-artist-profile-protection-year-end-prediction https://wearethemusicmakers.co/opinion/spotify-artist-profile-protection-year-end-prediction Spotify says Artist Profile Protection, now a beta with thousands of artists, will be available to all artists by the end of 2026. We expect it on time. We also make our first scored prediction, about the part Spotify has not promised. Fri, 23 Oct 2026 22:00:00 GMT We are the music makers streamingai-musicpolicy https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/ai-music-lawsuits-explained https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/ai-music-lawsuits-explained Labels, publishers and collecting societies have sued Suno, Udio and Anthropic, and independent artists have filed class actions of their own. This page lists 23 major lawsuits, in 21 rows, with their status as of 23 Oct 2026, explains the four legal questions they turn on, and sets out what each outcome would mean for independent musicians. Fri, 23 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers legallawsuitscopyrightai-musicartist-rightssunoudio https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/ai-training-data-licensing-explained https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/ai-training-data-licensing-explained So far, every deal that pays for training AI on music runs through an intermediary (a label, publisher, distributor, collecting society or sample marketplace), and almost none publishes a rate. Here is how the four deal structures work, what the law says in the EU, UK, US and India as of 23 Oct 2026, and what an independent artist can actually claim. Fri, 23 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicai-traininglicensingcopyrightroyalties https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/register-ai-assisted-song-2026 https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/register-ai-assisted-song-2026 Three gatekeepers now ask about AI, and each asks a different question. The US Copyright Office wants to know which parts a human made, PROs want a human writer, and distributors increasingly care which tool you used and how it was trained. Here is what each rule says as of 23 Oct 2026, a checklist that covers all three, and the mistakes that cost artists money. Fri, 23 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musiccopyrightdistributionroyaltiesworkflows https://wearethemusicmakers.co/opinion/open-weights-vs-closed-apps-ai-music-model-licences https://wearethemusicmakers.co/opinion/open-weights-vs-closed-apps-ai-music-model-licences Stable Audio 3, Lyria 3, Suno v6, ElevenLabs' music products and Udio all describe themselves as responsible about rights, but their terms differ sharply on who owns the output, whether you can release it, and whether your own creations become training data. We read each vendor's terms. Here is what they actually say. Fri, 23 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightsai-musiclicensingopen-weights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/suno-mlc-distrokid-subpoenas-data-war https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/suno-mlc-distrokid-subpoenas-data-war In the same week, Suno asked a Nashville court to force the MLC to hand over years of streaming data, and UMG and Sony asked a Manhattan court to force DistroKid to hand over its AI-detection numbers. Both sides want the data that will decide whether AI music has harmed the market. The artists whose plays and uploads fill those tables can't see any of it. Fri, 23 Oct 2026 06:00:00 GMT We are the music makers industrysunodistrokidmlcfair-useai-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/suno-admits-kept-training-recordings-v6-user-creations https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/suno-admits-kept-training-recordings-v6-user-creations In its answer to Universal and Sony's second lawsuit, Suno admits it has not deleted all the recordings it trained on, and repeats that v6 learned from "creations and preference signals" from its community. That makes Suno's own users part of the training pipeline the labels call laundering, under a licence they can't take back. Fri, 23 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicsunocopyrighttraining-data https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/how-distributors-detect-ai-false-positives https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/how-distributors-detect-ai-false-positives A labels' court filing shows DistroKid tests uploads with an undisclosed third-party "prediction model" and has made statements about false positives, none of it published for artists. Here is what is known about distributor AI detection, what you control, and how to protect a release that gets misjudged. Fri, 23 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers workflowsai-musicai-detectiondistrokiddistribution https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/arooj-aftab-two-payment-rule-ai-training https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/arooj-aftab-two-payment-rule-ai-training The Grammy-winning singer says musicians are owed twice, once for training and again for every new track an AI makes from what it learned. That goes further than the union statement she was resharing, and further than CISAC's president, but one collective licence in Sweden already pays at both points. Fri, 23 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightsai-musicai-traininglicensingumaw https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/umg-tyger-adaptive-game-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/umg-tyger-adaptive-game-music Universal Music Group is the first major music company to license TYGER, a music app for gamers that adapts licensed recordings to live gameplay. It isn't a song generator, and it could be a new income line. But nobody has said whether artists will be paid like sync or like a stream, or whether they get a say in how their songs are reshaped. Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industrygamingumglicensingai-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/india-ai-voice-cloning-personality-rights-dpiit-licence-stalled https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/india-ai-voice-cloning-personality-rights-dpiit-licence-stalled Bombay High Court orders have shielded Arijit Singh and Asha Bhosle from AI voice clones, but the government committee drafting India's AI-copyright rules has not met since June, and its plan would let AI firms train on recordings without permission. Famous voices have a remedy; everyone else is waiting. Thu, 22 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightsindiavoice-cloningcopyrightai-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/tod-machover-already-and-not-yet-bso-live-ai https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/tod-machover-already-and-not-yet-bso-live-ai Tod Machover's "already and not yet", a BSO commission conducted by Kent Nagano, puts a purpose-built "Live AI" system from the MIT Media Lab inside a full orchestra for three performances on 22-24 Oct 2026. It is the opposite of prompt-to-track AI, and it shows what a composer-directed, credited use of the technology can look like. Thu, 22 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers releasesai-musiclive-performanceclassical https://wearethemusicmakers.co/opinion/ai-music-labels-are-the-easy-part https://wearethemusicmakers.co/opinion/ai-music-labels-are-the-easy-part Within eight days in October 2026, Deezer and YouTube Music announced new AI-music controls, and Spotify said it had kept more than 50 million tracks out of recommendations. Labels get the headlines, but the filters do the real work, and none of the announcements we read explains how an artist can contest a mistake. Thu, 22 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers streamingai-musicpolicy https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/ai-music-video-controversies-fontaines-rodrigo-downing https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/ai-music-video-controversies-fontaines-rodrigo-downing Fontaines D.C. say a VFX team used AI on "Marianne" without telling them, their label or management. Olivia Rodrigo's art team posted hand-drawn work to answer AI claims, and K.K. Downing defends an AI recreation of his younger self. Artists now carry the reputational risk of supply-chain choices they often never see. Wed, 21 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightsai-musicmusic-videoscontracts https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/reservoir-sues-suno-anthropic-licensing-deals-evidence https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/reservoir-sues-suno-anthropic-licensing-deals-evidence Reservoir Media has sued Suno over 1,050 songs and Anthropic over 853, asking for about $338 million in total. Its sharpest argument is that Suno's deals with Warner, BMG and Believe prove a market for training licences exists. That helps rights owners win; whether it pays songwriters is a separate question. Wed, 21 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers legalsunoanthropicai-musicartist-rights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/elevenlabs-instant-soundtracks-sync-library-squeeze https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/elevenlabs-instant-soundtracks-sync-library-squeeze ElevenLabs now generates an original score plus timed sound effects for an uploaded video, on separate editable layers and through an API. Its own licence keeps film, TV, radio and studio games for top-tier enterprise customers, so the first squeeze lands on the online, short-form work that pays many library composers. Wed, 21 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicelevenlabssyncproduction-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/spotify-50-million-slop-spam-tracks-recommendations https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/spotify-50-million-slop-spam-tracks-recommendations Spotify says it has taken more than 50 million "slop and spam" tracks out of its recommendations in 2026, and counts removals from the service separately (more than 75 million). For producers, the useful question is no longer only "will my track be removed?" but "will anyone be shown it?" Wed, 21 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers streamingai-musicspotify https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/daisy-the-great-ai-soundalike-ad https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/daisy-the-great-ai-soundalike-ad Daisy the Great say an app called ADHD Vision has spent months running ads with an AI-made track that keeps the melody of "The Record Player Song" and swaps in new lyrics. The law already covers a copied melody. What indie acts lack is a fast, cheap way to get an ad taken down. Tue, 20 Oct 2026 08:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightsai-musiccopyrightadvertising https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/spotify-1000-stream-rule-ai-shield https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/spotify-1000-stream-rule-ai-shield Spotify now calls its 1,000-stream royalty threshold a "first line of defense" against AI-generated tracks, which it says are 10 times more likely to fall below it. The same rule decides whether a new human artist earns anything, and Spotify still keeps one of its two tests secret. Tue, 20 Oct 2026 07:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industryspotifyroyaltiesai-musicstreaming-fraud https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/spotify-ai-remix-tool-artist-consent https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/spotify-ai-remix-tool-artist-consent Believe and TuneCore became the fourth licensor of Spotify's planned AI covers and remixes add-on on 20 Oct 2026, and the first to describe an artist-level, two-step opt-in. The earlier UMG and Kobalt announcements talk about "participating" artists without saying who makes that choice, and Merlin says artists get a choice without describing how. Price, revenue split and launch date are still undisclosed. Tue, 20 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicspotifylicensingconsent https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/afm-human-made-human-paid-srla-talks https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/afm-human-made-human-paid-srla-talks The American Federation of Musicians wants consent, credit and pay for AI training written into its next contract with Universal, Sony, Warner and Hollywood Records, which covers major-label recordings in the US and Canada. Talks resume on 3 November, while the union's lawsuit over the labels' Suno and Udio deals waits for a ruling. Tue, 20 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightsai-musiclaborsession-musicianslabels https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/apple-samplab-logic-pro-ai https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/apple-samplab-logic-pro-ai Apple bought assets from Samplab, a Swiss maker of AI audio-editing software, and hired some of its staff in June. The deal only became public on 19 Oct 2026 through a European Commission filing. Samplab's tools edited single notes inside chords, detected chords and split stems. Apple hasn't announced any Logic Pro feature, but the hire points to AI that edits what you played rather than writing music for you. Mon, 19 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers music-techai-musicapplelogic-prodaws https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/2027-grammys-ai-rule-plain-english https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/2027-grammys-ai-rule-plain-english Grammy nominations land on 16 November. The rulebook lets AI material in, as long as the human part is "meaningful and more than de minimis" and fits the category. Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr says a majority of a song must be human-written, which is a higher bar than the rulebook sets. Sun, 18 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicgrammysawardssongwritinghuman-authorship https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/italy-ai-law-human-authorship-producers https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/italy-ai-law-human-authorship-producers Italy's AI law, Law No. 132 of 2025, amended the country's copyright act so that only works of human intellect are protected, including AI-assisted works that are "the result of the author's intellectual work". It also made spreading harmful AI-faked voices a crime. The law doesn't say how much human input is enough, so the evidence a producer keeps becomes the practical safeguard. Sat, 17 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musiccopyrightartist-rightsdeepfakeshuman-authorshipitaly https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/indian-labels-dsps-no-royalties-ai-slop https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/indian-labels-dsps-no-royalties-ai-slop Saregama's managing director Vikram Mehra says labels in India and globally are working with the three leading streaming services so that purely AI-generated music gets no share of the royalty pool. The principle protects human artists, but it leaves open who draws the line, how AI-assisted work is treated, and who keeps the money that slop no longer earns. Fri, 16 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicindustryroyaltiesstreamingindiasaregama https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/reinier-zonneveld-gaslab-credited-compensated-ai https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/reinier-zonneveld-gaslab-credited-compensated-ai The Dutch techno DJ has raised a $1M pre-seed round for GasLab, an AI music platform that says it trains only on music from consenting artists and labels and pays them according to an attribution record. It is an artist-founded answer to scraped AI, but no split, audit or consent terms have been published yet. Fri, 16 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicgaslabattributionfundingartist-rights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/ai-native-labels-soundbreak-finesse2tymes-grai-massivemusic https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/ai-native-labels-soundbreak-finesse2tymes-grai-massivemusic GRAI signed two deals with Songtradr's MassiveMusic on 15 Oct 2026, one to stream catalogue and one to train a model on an opt-in dataset. SoundBreak was reported to be adding Memphis rapper Finesse2Tymes as an AI co-writer. AI companies are taking on label jobs, and the consent sits with whoever holds the rights, not always the artist. Thu, 15 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industryai-musiclicensingartist-rights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/heart-on-my-sleeve-ghostwriter-three-years-on https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/heart-on-my-sleeve-ghostwriter-three-years-on In April 2023 an anonymous producer called Ghostwriter put out a song with AI voices made to sound like Drake and the Weeknd, and it was gone from the streaming services within days; on YouTube, Universal's claim reportedly rested on a producer tag rather than on the voices. Since then labels have sued AI companies and then licensed them, and platforms have written voice-clone rules. The idea Ghostwriter pitched, licensed voices with a revenue split, is now the business model. It's just not his. Wed, 14 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiartist-rightsai-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/rocketship-predicts-song-audience-before-release https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/rocketship-predicts-song-audience-before-release Rocketship, which scores an unreleased track against a catalogue of past hits to profile its likely audience, has come out of beta with one free song per new user. The FAQ says your upload is never used to train AI; the terms and privacy policy make a narrower promise, and keep derived data indefinitely. Wed, 14 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers music-techai-musicmusic-marketingartist-rights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/ai-music-licence-anatomy-udio-suno-settlements https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/ai-music-licence-anatomy-udio-suno-settlements Universal and Warner settled with Udio, and Warner with Suno, on a shared template: retrain on licensed music, let artists opt in their voice and likeness, and control what leaves the platform. The public terms don't say what any of it costs, how revenue is split, or how money reaches an individual artist. Wed, 14 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicsunoudiolicensingartist-rights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/platforms-label-ai-music-differently https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/platforms-label-ai-music-differently YouTube Music started labelling AI-generated songs on 14 Oct 2026, using what partners declare plus its own detection. Apple Music, Spotify, TIDAL, Deezer and the RIAA/IFPI scheme each draw the line in a different place, so an artist who uses AI for one stem now has to describe it five ways or let a detector decide. Wed, 14 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicstreamingmetadatayoutube-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/sonilo-raises-11m-ai-video-scoring-sync-composers https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/sonilo-raises-11m-ai-video-scoring-sync-composers Sonilo, a San Francisco start-up founded by former TikTok AI and music staff, has raised $11 million led by B Capital for a model that writes music and sound effects timed to your footage. Its answer on training data is a licensed Shutterstock catalogue, which means stock-music composers are both the training set and the competition. Wed, 14 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicfundingsynclicensingvideo https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/deezer-ai-toggle-fraud-problem https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/deezer-ai-toggle-fraud-problem Deezer will let listeners hide fully AI-generated music from search before the end of 2026. Its own figures matter more than the toggle. Deezer receives nearly 90,000 fully AI tracks a day, yet they draw only 1-3% of streams, and up to 85% of those streams in 2025 were fraudulent. For human artists, the fix that counts is in the payout system, not the search bar. Tue, 13 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aideezerstreamingstreaming-fraudai-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/melodifestivalen-2027-4077-entries-no-ai-ban https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/melodifestivalen-2027-4077-entries-no-ai-ban SVT received a record 4,077 entries for Melodifestivalen 2027, suspects a growing share were made with AI, has no way to detect them and won't ban them. Its rules only demand that the lead artist sings live. Greece's broadcaster went the other way, with a written AI ban and a sworn declaration from every writer. Mon, 12 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industryai-musiceurovisionsongwriting https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/uk-music-creators-ai-consent-payment-voice-rights-producers https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/uk-music-creators-ai-consent-payment-voice-rights-producers UK Music's This Is Music 2025 report asked music creators what they think about AI. Big majorities want consent, payment, labelling and voice rights. The producers, the group most likely to use AI tools and most positive about them, back consent and payment almost as strongly as everyone else, so using AI and opposing unlicensed training are not in conflict. Sat, 10 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicartist-rightscopyrightpersonality-rightsukuk-musicmusicians-union https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/mexico-ai-voice-cloning-performers-consent-law https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/mexico-ai-voice-cloning-performers-consent-law Mexico changed its Federal Copyright Law and Federal Labor Law in May 2026. A performer's voice and image are now protected against AI clones, a payment for one use no longer counts as consent to others, and work contracts must set the terms and pay for any AI use. This is already law, not a bill, but the exceptions are worded more loosely than the headlines suggest. Fri, 09 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightsai-musicvoice-cloningcopyrightmexico https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/suno-songkick-controller-live-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/suno-songkick-controller-live-music Suno has hired Ticketmaster's Michael Chua to run a new "Live Experiences" team that includes Songkick, whose user data Suno now controls. An AI company that is still being sued by two major labels now owns a map of which human artists fans want to see live, and where those fans are. Artists should know what that data can be used for. Fri, 09 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industrysunosongkicklive-musicfan-dataai-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/bandcamp-ai-ban-nine-months-boy-george https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/bandcamp-ai-ban-nine-months-boy-george Bandcamp banned music made "wholly or in substantial part" by AI in January. Since then, a project whose bio credited Suno stayed up until a newsroom asked about it, and Boy George's AI-assisted song was pulled with his profile. A human-only store is worth having, but artists need a published standard, notice and an appeal route. Wed, 07 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightsbandcampai-musicmoderation https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/michael-smith-sentence-copyright-office-fraud-inquiry https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/michael-smith-sentence-copyright-office-fraud-inquiry Michael Smith, who used AI-generated songs and bot accounts to drain streaming royalty pools, was sentenced to 18 months and ordered to forfeit about 8.09 million dollars. The next day the US Copyright Office published a public inquiry into streaming fraud, with comments due 23 Nov 2026. For artists it is the first official place to put on record what fraud costs them. Tue, 06 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industrystreaming-fraudai-musiccopyright-officeroyalties https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/italy-agcm-suno-terms-of-service https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/italy-agcm-suno-terms-of-service Italy's competition and consumer authority (AGCM) has opened an unfair-terms investigation into Suno, case CV278. It flags six groups of clauses, including a moral-rights waiver, a vague copyright licence, unilateral price and service changes, and US arbitration. Nothing has been found illegal yet, but these are the clauses most creators never read. Tue, 06 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightssunoterms-of-serviceconsumer-lawitalyai-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/google-flow-music-spaces-export-vst https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/google-flow-music-spaces-export-vst Since 6 Oct 2026, Google Flow Music lets producers describe an instrument or effect in plain language and load it into their DAW as a VST3 or AU plugin. It is macOS-only, limited to synth and effects processing, and runs inside a Google host plugin, which matters more than the launch framing suggests. Tue, 06 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers music-techgooglepluginsai-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/sony-260000-deepfake-takedowns-indies https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/sony-260000-deepfake-takedowns-indies Sony Music has now asked platforms to remove more than 260,000 AI tracks imitating its artists, up from 135,000 at the end of March. That is roughly 20,000 requests a month, which is a full-time enforcement operation. An independent artist facing the same impersonation has a report form, a distributor and their own spare time. Mon, 05 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightsai-musicdeepfakessony-musicspotify https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/what-copyright-protects-in-a-song-ai-sounds-like-era https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/what-copyright-protects-in-a-song-ai-sounds-like-era Read together, the Katy Perry, Ed Sheeran and Mariah Carey cases draw a clear line in US law: a melody and an original selection and arrangement of elements can be owned, while scales, common chord progressions, rhythms and genre clichés can't. Style isn't copyrightable either. For producers working with reference tracks and AI, that makes the singer's voice a bigger risk than the vibe. Sun, 04 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers workflowscopyrightai-musicartist-rights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/suno-speech-beta-voiceover-narration https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/suno-speech-beta-voiceover-narration Suno opened a public beta of Speech on 1 Oct 2026, a model that generates a spoken voice and an original score as one track. It is the company's first speech product since Bark, and it points straight at narration, meditation and voiceover, the steady work that pays many musicians' and voice actors' bills. Suno hasn't said where the voices come from. Thu, 01 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers releasessunoai-musicvoiceartist-rights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/how-much-music-is-ai-qobuz-siqa-numbers https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/how-much-music-is-ai-qobuz-siqa-numbers Qobuz says only 0.38% of its streams come from AI-identified tracks, and it treats 60% of those streams as fraud. A self-selected sample of AI creators charted by SIQA points the other way, towards hybrid human-plus-AI work. Supply is huge, real listening is small, and policy written for "fully AI slop" misses most of the people actually using these tools. Thu, 24 Sep 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicqobuzstreaming-frauddata https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/spain-official-charts-ai-eligibility-rules-promusicae-agedi https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/spain-official-charts-ai-eligibility-rules-promusicae-agedi Promusicae and AGEDI, which compile Spain's official charts, have adopted IFPI's principles for recordings made with generative AI. A track can chart only if it is substantially human made, made with an authorised AI service and labelled for listeners. None of those terms is defined, and the Spanish announcement mentions no way to appeal. Thu, 24 Sep 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicartist-rightsindustrychartsspainpromusicaeagediifpi https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/moral-rights-india-section-57-eu-us-vara https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/moral-rights-india-section-57-eu-us-vara Moral rights are your right to be credited and to object to distortion of your work, and in India they stay with you even after you sell the copyright. Section 57 covers authors and Section 38B covers performers. Germany and the UK have similar rules. The US limits them to a narrow class of visual art, which leaves music out. Here is what that means for AI remixes, deepfakes and uncredited samples. Thu, 24 Sep 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightscopyrightindiaai-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/suno-20-downloads-cap-producers https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/suno-20-downloads-cap-producers From 3 September 2026, Suno Pro allows 20 song downloads a month and Premier 60, while free accounts that existed before then get seven lifetime trial downloads with no commercial rights. Listening stays unlimited; leaving the platform is what's metered. For producers who use Suno as one tool inside a DAW, that turns auditioning ideas into rationing, and it pulls the finishing work into Suno's own Studio. Wed, 23 Sep 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers workflowssunoai-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/suno-studio-teaches-mixing-no-plugin-support https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/suno-studio-teaches-mixing-no-plugin-support Suno has started publishing production lessons, beginning with compression, for users of Studio, its browser DAW. The lessons are good. The catch is that Studio is Premier-only and won't load VST or AU plugins, so the skills are taught inside a closed toolchain. Tue, 22 Sep 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers workflowssunoai-musicdaw https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/umg-distrokid-ai-slop-takedowns https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/umg-distrokid-ai-slop-takedowns Universal Music Group sued DistroKid in Delaware on 15 Sep 2026, calling it an "AI-slop pipeline" and citing one account that released 4,562 tracks in a year. DistroKid has since confirmed it removed "a very small number" of recordings in response to UMG's claims, and independent artists say original and licensed work went with them, with no notice and no clear way to appeal. Tue, 15 Sep 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industrydistrokidumgtakedownsai-musiclegal https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/ai-music-detectors-not-proof-artifactbench-benchmark https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/ai-music-detectors-not-proof-artifactbench-benchmark Intrect tested eight public AI music detectors on the same 2,104 files. The public Deezer research model flagged 13% of real tracks and caught 64.6% of AI ones, and two detectors flagged more than two-thirds of real music as AI. Vendors advertise 99%. Here is how to read the gap, and what to do if a score lands on your release. Mon, 14 Sep 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicai-detectiondeezerbenchmarks https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/umg-elevenlabs-deal-elevenmusic-v25 https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/umg-elevenlabs-deal-elevenmusic-v25 Universal Music Group signed its first deal with ElevenLabs on 10 Sep 2026, for a fan remix platform that will include "personalized vocal experiences". A day later ElevenMusic shipped v2.5 with downloads and new terms. Those terms show what voice consent could look like on the UMG product, and where it falls short. Fri, 11 Sep 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicelevenlabsuniversal-music-groupvoice-rights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/suno-v6-licensed-era https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/suno-v6-licensed-era Suno's v6, launched on 9 Sep 2026, is the first model it built with Warner, BMG and Believe, and every older model was retired. The labels have deals; the opt-in products that would pay individual artists don't exist yet. And people who had built a sound on v5.5 lost the instrument they were playing. Wed, 09 Sep 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers releasessunoai-musiclicensing https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/ai-training-fair-use-bartz-kadrey-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/ai-training-fair-use-bartz-kadrey-music Two US judges ruled in June 2025 that training language models on books was fair use, but only on the records in front of them, and one said plainly that most such copying will likely be illegal. Music cases turn on market harm, and that is where songwriters and labels have a stronger hand than the authors did. Wed, 09 Sep 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aifair-usecopyrightai-musiclawsuits https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/can-you-copyright-ai-song-us-copyright-office-rules https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/can-you-copyright-ai-song-us-copyright-office-rules In the US, a prompt on its own does not make you the author of what an AI generates. Lyrics, melodies, performances, edits and creative arrangement you made yourself can still be registered, as long as you claim your part and disclose the AI part on the form. Tue, 08 Sep 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musiccopyrightregistrationartist-rights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/believe-tunecore-blocked-suno-then-distributed-it https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/believe-tunecore-blocked-suno-then-distributed-it In April, Believe called Suno a "pirate studio" and said its detector could spot Suno tracks with 99% reliability. On 8 Sep 2026 it signed a global partnership to distribute music from Suno's new licensed model. The output didn't change category because of the technology. It changed because of a contract artists weren't party to. Tue, 08 Sep 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industrydistributionai-musicsunobelieve https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/doj-fair-use-nyt-music-lawyers https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/doj-fair-use-nyt-music-lawyers The US Justice Department has told the court in the New York Times' case against OpenAI that training AI models on copyrighted text is fair use, and it goes out of its way to reject the "market dilution" theory the music industry leans on. It leaves outputs, data sourcing and identity open, and that is where artists' claims are strongest. Wed, 02 Sep 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightslegalcopyrightfair-useai-musictraining-data https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/moises-studio-browser-collaborative-ai-workspace https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/moises-studio-browser-collaborative-ai-workspace Moises has turned its stem-separation app into a browser workspace with multitrack recording, MIDI, generated parts, private voice models and an agent, and is plugging the same tools into Fender Studio Pro, UA LUNA and SoundCloud. The training promise is unusually firm; the terms on outputs and storage deserve a closer read. Wed, 02 Sep 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers music-techai-musicmoisesbrowser-daw https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/jason-isbell-suno-class-action-publicity-rights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/jason-isbell-suno-class-action-publicity-rights Jason Isbell, David Lowery, Guy Forsyth and Eduardo Calle have sued Suno under state publicity laws and Illinois' biometric privacy law, not copyright. They say Suno's model knows musicians by name and voice. If the theory holds, it gives artists who don't own their masters a claim of their own, though as drafted it favours the famous. Mon, 31 Aug 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightssunoright-of-publicityai-musiclawsuits https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/eu-ai-act-training-summaries-what-musicians-can-do https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/eu-ai-act-training-summaries-what-musicians-can-do From 2 August 2026 the Commission's AI Office can fine general-purpose AI providers that skip their copyright policy or their public summary of training content. The rules give musicians a reference point and a complaint route, but not a list of their songs or a payment. Here is what you can check, what you can reserve, and where the gaps are. Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightseu-ai-actcopyrightai-trainingai-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/stability-ai-76m-round-all-three-majors https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/stability-ai-76m-round-all-three-majors Universal, Sony and Warner all took equity in Stability AI's $76M Series B on 25 Aug 2026. The labels are now licensors, development partners and shareholders of the same AI company, and none of the announcements says how artists share in any of those roles. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industryfundingai-musicstability-ailabels https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/brazil-ecad-letter-big-tech-ai-licensing-bill-stalled https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/brazil-ecad-letter-big-tech-ai-licensing-bill-stalled ECAD, Brazil's central collecting office, and the music societies that run it joined broadcasters and publishers in a letter to OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, Amazon and others. It says AI use of their members' work needs authorisation and payment under the 1998 copyright law, and invites talks to avoid litigation. Brazil's AI bill, which would write that into statute, has stalled in the Chamber of Deputies until after the elections. Mon, 24 Aug 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicartist-rightscopyrightcollecting-societiesbrazilecadopenaipl-2338 https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/grimes-ai-voice-50-50-split-three-years-on https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/grimes-ai-voice-50-50-split-three-years-on In 2023 Grimes let anyone release songs with an AI copy of her voice in exchange for half the master royalties. About three years on, the GrimesAI profile lists 168 releases, the Elf.Tech site has gone quiet and Grimes now says humans still have to tell the story. Here is what worked, what didn't, and what other artists can borrow. Tue, 11 Aug 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicgrimesvoice-cloninglicensingartist-rights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/spotify-ai-persona-badge-identity https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/spotify-ai-persona-badge-identity Spotify will badge artist profiles whose public identity looks like a photorealistic AI-generated person, and keep those profiles out of editorial and algorithmic recommendations by default. The badge says nothing about how the music was made. For artists, that means the face on the profile now matters more to discovery than the method behind the track. Tue, 11 Aug 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicspotifystreaming https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/velvet-sundown-one-year-ai-labelling-test-case https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/velvet-sundown-one-year-ai-labelling-test-case A year after an AI-generated "band" reached more than a million Spotify listeners, its audience has collapsed and Spotify has written rules for synthetic identities. The real cost has landed elsewhere, on a small human band with a similar name that had to pay for a trademark to fight an AI lookalike. Mon, 10 Aug 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicspotifyartist-rightsstreaming https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/audio-watermarks-content-credentials-synthid-c2pa https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/audio-watermarks-content-credentials-synthid-c2pa Google stamps every Lyria 3 track in Gemini with an inaudible SynthID watermark, and the C2PA standard lets tools attach a signed history to WAV, MP3 and FLAC files. Both can point to AI. Neither can prove a human made a song, but an artist can use them to build evidence of their own process. Fri, 07 Aug 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicprovenancewatermarkingartist-rights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/france-darcos-bill-sacem-ai-training-burden-of-proof https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/france-darcos-bill-sacem-ai-training-burden-of-proof France's Senate has passed a one-article bill that would presume an AI provider used a protected work whenever there is a plausible sign that it did, leaving the provider to prove otherwise. SACEM, which has opted its repertoire out of AI mining since October 2023, wants it passed. It has been stuck in the National Assembly since June, and the reason it matters is that an opt-out is hard to enforce if you can't prove your music was used. Thu, 06 Aug 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicartist-rightscopyrightlegalfrancesacem https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/saregama-ai-music-videos-old-catalogue https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/saregama-ai-music-videos-old-catalogue Saregama owns the songs and recordings for much of Hindi cinema's 1960s and 1970s music, but not the film clips that went with them. It now uses generative AI to make new videos for those songs, and to rework some for younger listeners, while it still argues against unlicensed AI. The label hasn't said whether the original singers' or composers' estates get any say. Wed, 05 Aug 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicartist-rightsindustrycataloguemusic-videosaregamaopenaiindia https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/treblo-detector-rubberz-disclosure https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/treblo-detector-rubberz-disclosure AI music app Treblo released a detector built to recognise its own output, and it returned "very likely Treblo" for Fenix Flexin's "Rubberz", a song then at No. 58 on the Billboard Hot 100. Fenix had denied using AI and later admitted it. The bigger story is that a generator that can identify its own output holds leverage over every artist who used it. Tue, 04 Aug 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicdetectiondisclosuretreblo https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/how-to-disclose-ai-use-ddex-containsai-spotify-ai-credits https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/how-to-disclose-ai-use-ddex-containsai-spotify-ai-credits Spotify's AI Credits run on a DDEX standard that records AI use per role and per file, as None, Partly or All. You can only use it through a distributor that supports it, so here is how to credit AI and human work separately, step by step, with a template you can copy. Mon, 03 Aug 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers workflowsaiai-musicmetadataspotifyddexcredits https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/07/gema-suno-munich-ruling-memorisation https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/07/gema-suno-munich-ruling-memorisation A Munich court has largely ruled for GEMA against Suno over six songs, finding they were memorised inside Suno's v3.5 and v4 models and that this is copying. It also applied US fair use to Suno's US training and rejected it. The ruling isn't final, and its limits matter as much as the headline. Fri, 31 Jul 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers legalsunogemaai-musicartist-rightscopyright https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/07/murphy-campbell-ai-voice-clone-uk-personality-rights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/07/murphy-campbell-ai-voice-clone-uk-personality-rights AI covers built from North Carolina folk singer Murphy Campbell's YouTube performances appeared on streaming services under her name, then her own videos of public-domain songs were hit with copyright claims. The Musicians' Union now uses her case to argue for UK personality rights. Her story suggests a right on paper is only the first of three things artists need. Mon, 20 Jul 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightsai-musicdeepfakespersonality-rightsukmusicians-unionspotifyyoutube https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/06/china-ai-labelling-rules-netease-cloud-music-testing https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/06/china-ai-labelling-rules-netease-cloud-music-testing China has required AI-generated audio to carry a label and embedded metadata since 1 Sep 2025, and platforms must detect AI content and let uploaders declare it. In April 2026 NetEase Cloud Music told a Chinese newspaper its AI labels were still in a small-scale test and relied mostly on creators declaring AI themselves. We think that leaves honest creators carrying the cost. Fri, 26 Jun 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicai-labellingmetadataartist-rightsstreamingchinanetease-cloud-musictencent-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/06/fender-studio-pro-8-moises-ai-stem-tools https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/06/fender-studio-pro-8-moises-ai-stem-tools PreSonus's Studio One became Fender Studio Pro 8 in January, and the 8.1 update in June built Moises's stem separation, stem generation and voice conversion into the DAW. The catch for anyone who prefers to own their tools is that a DAW you can buy outright now comes with a monthly AI allowance. Tue, 09 Jun 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers releasesdawai-musicfendermoises https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/05/stim-ai-rights-category-opt-in-work-by-work https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/05/stim-ai-rights-category-opt-in-work-by-work STIM's members have voted to create a separate AI rights category, in force from 1 Jun 2026. No work goes into an AI licence unless its creator switches it on, work by work; everything else stays monitored but excluded. It is the most consent-heavy model we have seen a collecting society adopt, and its weak spot is scale, not principle. Sun, 31 May 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicartist-rightslicensingcollective-managementstimsweden https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/05/udio-starstruck-licensed-walled-garden https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/05/udio-starstruck-licensed-walled-garden Udio's licensed app Starstruck will let fans cover, reimagine, remix or write new songs, but only as a named, opted-in artist, with royalties paid on every creation and nothing allowed to leave the app. It is AI as fan merchandise rather than an artist's tool, and the opt-in usually runs through the label or publisher, not the artist. Fri, 22 May 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicudiolicensingwalled-garden https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/05/stable-audio-3-open-weights-licensed-data-local https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/05/stable-audio-3-open-weights-licensed-data-local Stability AI's Stable Audio 3.0 family puts music models that make up to 6:20 of audio onto ordinary laptops, with open weights for Small and Medium. The "fully licensed" training set is stock library and Creative Commons audio, not label catalogue, and the free licence ends at $1M in annual revenue. Wed, 20 May 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicreleasesstability-aiopen-weightslicensing https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/04/pro-tools-2026-4-speech-to-text-track-pin-mpeg-h https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/04/pro-tools-2026-4-speech-to-text-track-pin-mpeg-h Pro Tools 2026.4 makes its on-device transcription survive bounces and edits, adds MPEG-H broadcast mixing with Fraunhofer, and gives every tier a Track Pin. Most of the new work sits in the Studio and Ultimate tiers and points at post-production and broadcast, which tells you where Avid sees its paying customers. Tue, 28 Apr 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers releasespro-toolsaviddawimmersive-audioai-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/01/musical-ai-4-5m-attribution-trace-songs-ai-output https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/01/musical-ai-4-5m-attribution-trace-songs-ai-output Musical AI, formerly Somms.ai, raised $4.5 million in a round led by Heavybit to scale software that estimates how much each licensed source contributed to a generated track. It is the plumbing per-output royalties depend on, and the research says it estimates influence rather than proves it. Tue, 13 Jan 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicfundingattributionlicensingroyalties https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2025/11/cubase-15-ai-stem-separation-pro-only https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2025/11/cubase-15-ai-stem-separation-pro-only Steinberg's Cubase 15 adds a melodic pattern sequencer, six new modulators, Yamaha-powered Omnivocal and built-in AI stem separation. The stem tool is Pro-only, so getting it means the $579.99 edition, $250 more than Artist. Wed, 05 Nov 2025 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers releasesdawstem-separationcubaseai-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2025/06/ed-sheeran-thinking-out-loud-chord-progressions-building-blocks https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2025/06/ed-sheeran-thinking-out-loud-chord-progressions-building-blocks On 16 June 2025 the US Supreme Court declined to hear Structured Asset Sales' appeal, leaving the 2nd Circuit's ruling in place: a common four-chord progression plus a syncopated harmonic rhythm is too unoriginal to protect, and for a 1909 Act song only the deposited sheet music counts. That standard matters for every 'it sounds like my song' claim, including the ones now aimed at AI outputs. Mon, 16 Jun 2025 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightscopyrightai-music