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On 18 March 2026 the UK government said a copyright exception letting AI firms train on work unless creators opt out is no longer its preferred option. Musicians won this one through public pressure and votes in Parliament, but the government hasn't ruled the idea out, and seven months later an opt-out model is on the table in Australia.
Artist rightsvia GOV.UK (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
A federal judge in Manhattan has let two voice actors pursue New York publicity, consumer-protection and contract claims against Lovo, the AI voice company they say cloned them, while dismissing most of their trademark and copyright claims. This was a ruling on a motion to dismiss, not a win at trial. Its reasoning still matters to singers: in this court's view, copyright in a recording doesn't protect the voice on it, but New York's civil rights law does.
Artist rightsvia US District Court for the Southern District of New York
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.
Artist rightsvia Supreme Court of the United States
Taylor Swift has bought back the master recordings of her first six albums from Shamrock Capital, for a price Billboard's sources put at around $360 million. Most artists can't buy their way out of a bad deal, so the useful lessons are in the contract clauses that made the six-year fight necessary.
Industryvia Taylor Swift (official Tumblr)
A model trained on Randy Travis's own vocal stems turned another singer's demo into "Where That Came From", his first new song in over a decade. Eleven months later Travis backed the NO FAKES Act against voice theft. The line between the two is consent and control, and the Travis case shows it has to cover the human singer underneath as well as the star on the label.
AIvia U.S. Government Publishing Office
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