We are the music makers

Topic

Fair-use

  • The AI music war becomes a data war: Suno subpoenas the MLC, the labels subpoena DistroKid

    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.

    Artist rightsvia US District Court, Southern District of New York (via Music Business Worldwide)

  • The Copyright Office's AI training report is still a draft 17 months on, and its critics are using that

    The US Copyright Office's report on generative AI training, released as a "pre-publication version" on 9 May 2025, has never been finalised. Its view that some training is fair use and some isn't, and that market dilution is real harm, is the closest thing music has to an official US position. Litigants cite it, the Justice Department attacks it, and the two big 2025 rulings didn't cite it at all.

    Artist rightsvia US Copyright Office

  • "AI training is fair use" isn't settled law: what Bartz and Kadrey decided, and why music is different

    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.

    Artist rightsvia US District Court, N.D. California (via CourtListener RECAP)

  • The DOJ says AI training is fair use. Music's best arguments were never about training

    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.

    Artist rightsvia US Department of Justice (copy hosted by MusicTechPolicy)

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