UK Music's Tom Kiehl calls on government to rethink AI proposals allowing copyright exceptions

UK Music's Tom Kiehl calls on government to rethink AI proposals allowing copyright exceptions

UK Music chief executive Tom Kiehl is calling on the government to reconsider proposals for a text and data mining exception to copyright in exchange for AI companies providing greater transparency. 

With the current consultation on copyright and AI training running for the next month, he outlines the reasons for protecting artists in order to help the creative sector’s ability to deliver growth for the UK…

As we look to what the year ahead may bring, I am increasingly conscious that years ending in 5 can prove to be significant moments for the UK music industry. 

Ten years ago in 2015, we saw the release of Adele’s 25. Not a single album subsequently released by any artist in the world has come near to reaching those same dizzying levels of global commercial success. 

2015 was not just a one off, however, and it is possible to go much further back in time to support this point. 

1955 brought us the very first Ivor Novello Awards. 1965 marked the creative turning point for The Beatles with the release of Rubber Soul. 1975 saw the Sex Pistols explode on to the scene with their very first concert while Queen released the ground-breaking Bohemian Rhapsody. 1985 spawned Live Aid and Britpop became the cultural zeitgeist in 1995 with the Blur vs Oasis battle dominating the headlines. 

In 2005 digital downloads were included in official charts for the very first time, offering an early glimpse of the digital revolution that would irreversibly transform the industry as we knew it.

There is something about the mid-point of a decade, the tipping point of what has gone before and where the future is heading. We are at that precipice again and we should be excited about what the future holds for our £7.6 billion industry – a sector that enjoys 13% year-on-year growth, generates exports of £4.6 billion, and employs 216,000 people. 

So, what will 2025 bring? While it is early days it could be that the actions of the relatively newly elected UK government prove decisive as to whether we will look back on 2025 as a year to remember for the UK music industry.

Since coming to office, ministers including Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and Culture Minister Sir Chris Bryant have spoken positively about addressing a number of crucial music industry issues. These range from tackling EU touring and supporting grassroots venues and artists, to improving fairness in the ticketing market and improving creative education. 2025 will be seen by many in the sector as the moment to turn these encouraging words into action.

However, not everything is positive regarding the new government’s agenda for music. In particular, proposals published at the end of last year that relate to the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on sectors like music could instead have a devastating impact.

AI presents benefits to the music industry. It can help enhance the creative process and improve business efficiencies. Yet there are significant threats posed by it too. Specifically, AI systems are being trained on copyright protected works without the consent of creators and rightsholders. 

This matters because consent is the basis upon which copyright derived remuneration works. The principle of consent should not be that severely undermined, therefore guardrails, such as requirements for greater transparency from AI developers on the creative works they are being trained on, are needed to ensure the right people are compensated.

Far from addressing these challenges, the government’s recent proposals only offer the prospect of transparency from AI companies in exchange for a text and data mining exception to copyright. An exception would water down copyright, negate the need for licences, and equates to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. 

Fundamentally, it would have far reaching consequences to our creative industries in its ability to deliver growth. This is somewhat surprising given the government has recognised the creative sector’s ability to deliver growth and placed it at the heart of its industrial strategy. 

The government is taking a huge risk in betting in favour of a relatively modest domestic AI sector against a creative sector that is generating over £120 billion

Tom Kiehl

A rights reservation mechanism is being proposed as an additional safeguard for the creative community from a text and data mining copyright exception. Yet this is little comfort when there is no evidence there is an effective way creators and companies can opt out from their works being trained by AI.

The government is taking a huge risk in betting in favour of a relatively modest domestic AI sector against a creative sector that is already generating over £120 billion to the economy. Foreign tech companies rather than homegrown talent are clearly the only winners here.

These proposals need a rethink, and it is vital that music and the wider creative community come together, as they did 10 years ago to win a Judicial Review against a copyright exception, to make it absolutely clear to legislators there is another way. We have until 25 February to do this when the government’s consultation closes.

In February 1965, it was a previous Labour government under Harold Wilson that published A Policy for the Arts. Written by Arts Minister Jennie Lee it was the first, and for 50 years the only, cultural White Paper in the UK. It recognised the complex relationship between the arts and the state and provided some of the foundations for much of the success for sectors like music over the following decades, from Adele to Queen, to Blur and Oasis to Live Aid. 

If today’s Labour government want to ensure 2025 is as momentous for music as other years ending in 5, they would do well to take inspiration from the belief in and vision for creativity and the arts that Jennie Lee and Harold Wilson so evidently had back in 1965. UK Music looks forward to achieving this with them.

MAIN PHOTO: Joanna Dudderidge

 



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