Musicians protest with silent album against ‘music theft’ AI companies

This article was last updated on February 25, 2025

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Musicians protest with silent album against ‘music theft’ AI companies

Kate Bush, Elton John, Hans Zimmer, Annie Lennox, Billy Ocean, Tori Amos: It is an impressive and unusual line-up. The album that they released today, together with hundreds of other musicians, is at least as unusual. It is full of silence. The album is a protest against new AI legislation by the British government.

Is this what we want? has twelve tracks, with hardly any sound. They are recordings from empty music studios, where only some background noise can be heard. Buzz of devices, traffic in the distance, a whistling bird; In any case, no music. According to the cooperating artists, that is what we can expect if the law continues.

With the album they oppose an adjustment of the Media Act that work in the United Kingdom. This gives AI companies free access to the work of artists. Free and without having to ask for permission. They can use all those productions to train their AI models. This not only applies to music, but also to books, articles and artworks.

Artists fear that they lose creative control over their work and that this will undermine the creative industry. In addition, they want to be paid for their work delivered.

The bill is part of the intention of the British government to become the world leader in AI. The government believes that current copyright legislation stands in the way of realizing that plan, but emphasizes that nothing has been decided yet.

European law

Dutch artists also struck Alarm already About AI tools and their opaque. From music programs such as Udio and Suno, which compose songs based on trained AI models, it is impossible to find out with which music the models have been trained. Record companies and copyright organizations think that existing music is used for this without permission. Multiple lawsuits are against those programs worldwide.

In the European Union, in 2023 there is a AI Act started Who has to arrange better what is allowed and not allowed with artificial intelligence. For example, it says under which conditions countries may use face recognition. But much still has to be worked out, also in the field of copyright and AI.

At the moment, for example, AI companies in Europe do not have to take out licenses to use music, something that Bumastemra recently recently for argued In Brussels. But it says, for example, the law that Van Systems must be clear how they work, based on which data they are trained and whether they do not violate copyright. Exactly how that should become clear is still being worked out.

Check the entire internet

According to the British artists, the fact that the British now want to open the whole thing to AI companies, threatens their entire right to exist. Although the bill contains a possibility to withdraw the ‘permission’, they have no confidence in that. They see no guarantee that this is waterproof and find it unworkable. They should then actively let hundreds of different companies know that they do not give permission, or check the entire internet for what happens to their work.

With the album, a complete campaign has also been launched, entitled ‘Make It Fair’. This includes full -page advertisements in newspapers and a letter in The Times. With the campaign, the artists and prominent people call on everyone to object to the law.