The rapid development of artificial intelligence technology has triggered new challenges in the field of music copyright. The German music copyright organization GEMA recently expressed its position on the issue of artificial intelligence's use of music copyright. Its senior leaders called on AI companies to respect the rights of creators and suggested establishing a new legal framework to standardize the payment mechanism of AI companies to copyright owners. GEMA even proposed that AI companies should pay 30% of their net income from using copyrighted materials. This move has aroused widespread concern in the industry and reflects the lack of clear fair use rules around the world in the use of copyrighted data by AI.
Senior leaders of the German music copyright organization GEMA have recently spoken out on the issue of artificial intelligence's use of music copyright. CEO Dr. Tobias Holzmüller called on the AI market to more respect the rights of creators. Dr. Ralf Weigand, chairman of the supervisory board, suggested establishing a new legal framework to ensure that AI companies pay copyright Party shall pay reasonable remuneration. GEMA proposes that AI companies should pay 30% of their net income from using copyrighted material.
This statement is the latest development after GEMA sued OpenAI ChatGPT in November 2024 for using copyrighted lyrics. At the same time, the AI music creation platform Suno is also facing copyright lawsuits from GEMA and major record companies.
Facing the lawsuit, Suno co-founder Mikey Shulman argued that critics misunderstood the nature of its technology. He said that his AI system creates music by learning musical patterns and structures, similar to the process of human learning by listening to music, rather than simply copying specific songs. This "learning does not equal stealing" defense argument is exactly the same as the position of other AI companies in similar cases.
The disputes reflect a larger problem: the lack of clear fair use rules around the world when it comes to using copyrighted data to train AI systems. The legal battle between copyright owners and AI companies may promote the formation of relevant legal frameworks.
GEMA’s tough stance and Suno’s defense represent the views of both sides of the current conflict between AI and copyright. In the future, how to balance AI development and copyright protection will become an important issue facing the world, requiring joint efforts from all parties to establish a more complete legal framework and regulatory mechanism.