As we got ready to send this week’s Stems out, news broke that a German court had ruled that Suno violated copyright by using songs represented by the performing rights organization GEMA to train its AI model without a license. As Google, Facebook, and other tech companies can attest, Germans (and the EU in general) tend to be more aggressive in regulating tech companies than the US, so there is no guarantee that this is a precedent for US suits such as UMG’s against the AI company. But the timing here is significant — it’s the first major ruling in a copyright suit against Suno, and they lost. We’d love to hear your thoughts: send comments and tips to [email protected].
MUSIC • MEDIA • TECH| Analysis |
Model of Confusion: “AI Music” is Getting Drained of All Meaning
Before we can engage with our would-be robot overlords, we must be speaking the same language. (Giphy)
Earlier this year I was speaking to a well-known producer about AI and music production. He said he didn’t begrudge anybody’s use of AI, but it perplexed him why they would use it in making music – didn’t they want to do the fun part themselves? He also said he personally didn’t use any in his work.
The thing is, he actually did. “I use the stem splitter in Logic all the time,” he said a few minutes later. “It’s great.” He also said he wouldn’t think twice about using AI for assistant-engineer type jobs like making sure backing vocals were lined up behind the lead vocals correctly.