philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

What happens when an AI-generated artist gets a record deal? A copyright mess

The only human-made element behind Xania Monet’s act appear to be the lyrics. ...

Jones is a Mississippi-based lyricist behind the R&B artist “Xania Monet” whose most popular song on Spotify racked up over 1 million listens, and whose Reels regularly top 100,000 views on Instagram – despite her likeness, vocals, and music being AI-generated.

Multiple copyright experts speaking with The Verge have been quite clear: the law is not at all settled but generally one cannot copyright AI-generated works by themselves without human intervention, but you may be able to secure copyright where there are human-made expressive elements, which in this case are the lyrics. So, what exactly is Hallwood Media buying? What can they license? What does this mean for the future of music as a sellable product? The more questions we asked, the more it became evident that we’re facing a cultural shift in the wake of the flood of AI-generated content. The law is just trying to keep up. ...

A lack of copyright protection does not stop anyone from selling their art or music, Kevin Madigan, SVP of Policy and Government Affairs at the Copyright Alliance told The Verge. They just might not have any way to enforce a copyright claim if someone rips the music and uses it in a commercial, for example. ...

In the case of an AI-assisted work, only the human-made elements can be registered for copyright protection, and as of today, over a thousand works have been partially copyrighted this way. ...

See the full story here: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/785792/ai-generated-music-record-deal-copyright