Topic

Artist-rights

  • Human Made, Human Paid: the musicians' union takes AI to the bargaining table on 3 November

    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.

    Industryvia American Federation of Musicians

  • Australia is the AI copyright outlier, and the world's music publishers are warning it

    The International Confederation of Music Publishers says 62 countries have weighed loosening copyright for AI training and Australia now looks like the only one still considering it. It says Gemini can reproduce lyrics by Kylie Minogue, G-Flip and Nick Cave. A parliamentary committee is due to report by 30 November, so Australian artists have weeks to be heard.

    Artist rightsvia Guardian Australia

  • Vetter v. Resnik stands: songwriters can reclaim worldwide rights in the Fifth Circuit, because the Supreme Court lacked a quorum

    With four justices sitting out, the Supreme Court had no quorum and automatically affirmed the Fifth Circuit's ruling that a US copyright termination recaptures a songwriter's worldwide rights. It is a real win for writers in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, but it sets no national precedent and foreign courts still apply their own law.

    Artist rightsvia Supreme Court of the United States

  • Italy wrote "human authorship" into law: what its AI act means for producers using AI

    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.

    Artist rightsvia Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana

  • The Living Wage for Musicians Act would pay artists from a streaming fund. A year on, it has not moved

    H.R. 5664 would add a fee of half the subscription price, between $4 and $10, to every music streaming subscription and take 10% of streamers' other music revenue, then pay the money straight to human recording artists, capped at a million streams per track a month. It was referred to the House Judiciary Committee on 30 September 2025, and Congress.gov shows no action since.

    Artist rightsvia U.S. Government Publishing Office

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