CISAC urges copyright holders around the world to fight for their rights amid rapid advances in artificial intelligence.
In its latest annual report released on Wednesday (May 22), the umbrella group of global royalty collection organizations urged rights holders to “take immediate action” to combat legal and regulatory inadequacies over the use of copyrighted material in artificial intelligence tools. Certainty.
“Our message is that artificial intelligence will bring about the biggest revolution ever seen in the creative field,” said CISAC President (and Abba co-founder). Bjorn Urvaus wrote in the foreword of the report.
“To prepare, we must act now. We should not sit back and wait to see how things unfold. We cannot allow tech companies and policymakers to sit at the decision-making table and leave creators outside the room.
The CISAC report calls artificial intelligence “our top priority for 2024” and reiterates the three-pronged approach the organization unveiled in an open letter to governments last year:
- Authorization: “Creators must have the right to license their work to AI tools.”
- remuneration: “Creators must pay for such use.”
- transparency: “Artificial intelligence providers must be obliged to report training on copyrighted works.”
CISAC represents 225 collective management organizations (CMOs), performing rights organizations (PROs) and other copyright and collecting societies around the world, including AMRA and ASCAP In the U.S, Music PRS in England, yolk in Germany and sasem In France.
Collectively, these groups represent more than 5 million creators Work in music, audiovisual content, literature, visual arts and theatre.
“We cannot allow tech companies and policymakers to sit at the decision-making table and leave creators outside the room.”
Bjorn Urvaus, CISAC
In this year’s report, CISAC highlights its involvement in EU developments artificial intelligence methodthe democratic world’s first comprehensive legislation regulating the development and use of artificial intelligence.
The organization emphasized its efforts to ensure that the Artificial Intelligence Bill includes transparency measuresSpecifically, it requires AI developers to document and make public what they use to train AI models.
This is a key demand from the music industry, which believes that transparency in AI development is necessary to be able to trace the intellectual property rights used by AI developers to train algorithms.
The Artificial Intelligence Act also requires technology companies to obtain permission from the rights holders when using copyrighted intellectual property rights to train their artificial intelligence models. However, the law retains certain exceptions, so it is unclear what types of AI technologies are covered by the requirement.
“I think copyright and the interests of creators are taken more seriously by governments now than before, but there is still a lot of education and advocacy work to be done,” CISAC Director General Gadiolong stated in the annual report Q&A.
Last year, CISAC also submitted a submission to the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) after the government agency called for input on its copyright and artificial intelligence policies.
Numerous music companies and industry groups such as universal music group and national music publishers association (State Drug Administration) submitted a submission to USCO calling for rules requiring artificial intelligence developers to seek authorization and pay fees when using copyrighted material.
Technology companies and technology investors, e.g. Andreessen Horowitz Argues that the use of copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence should fall within the “fair use” exemption of copyright law, and that requiring AI developers to pay to use copyrighted intellectual property will hinder the industry.
“Copyright and the interests of creators are now taken more seriously by governments than before, but there is still a lot of education and advocacy work to be done.”
Gadi Oron, CISAC
CISAC said it has been supporting Japan’s Authors, Composers and Publishers Rights Association (JASRAC) works to change the Japanese government’s artificial intelligence policy.
Japan last year held that artificial intelligence developers can use copyrighted content to build artificial intelligence models for free because it falls under exemptions from text and data mining laws. CISAC said in its report that the policy “has been assessed as having a harmful impact on creators.”
The organization also said it is developing licensing and compensation plans for artificial intelligence development, which have been “the subject of preliminary discussions in different CISAC committees.” This will be a top priority for CISAC and its members in 2024.
“Artificial intelligence can be a great tool, but it must not come at the expense of the rights of creators,” Urvaus wrote in the report. “The concept of copyright has had a huge impact on culture and the economy and must not be diluted by artificial intelligence.”
Digitization is the primary source of income for creators
In its latest collections report, released last October, CISAC said music collections – the largest source of income among its members – had grown by record levels 28% annual increase By 2022, 10.8 billion eurosmarking the first time that global music collections have exceeded the 10 billion euro mark.
This is also the first time that digital intellectual property rights have become the largest source of income for creators around the world, driven by the growth of digital streaming services and new or updated licensing agreements with copyright management associations.
“However, many CISAC members continue to emphasize that the vast majority of creators they represent have not experienced increases in digital rights fees and that their works remain widely undervalued in the market,” CISAC’s new report states.
“The overall collection is at an all-time high, which is really encouraging for the future. Nonetheless, we must relentlessly prepare for the unprecedented challenges ahead and most importantly… prepare for the impact of generative artificial intelligence. Marcelo Castro Blancothe CISAC Board Chairman wrote in the preface to the report.
“In this new era of digital environments, it has never been more important for human art to be protected and guaranteed by law.”
There are problems in China’s digital music market
CISAC has identified the Chinese digital music market as a problem area for music licensing for streaming services.
Between 2017 and 2023, China’s digital collections doubled—— 27.6 million euros arrive €54.5 million – The report states that revenue growth has stalled in 2023, “with digital revenue declining significantly due to the lack of licensing agreements with major DSPs such as Tencent and NetEase.”
this China Music Copyright Association (MCSC) always under pressure Tencent Music Entertainment and NetLouis Cloud MusicChina’s two major music streaming services have obtained new licenses but have not renewed them since 2021, CISAC said.
In recent years, both Tencent and NetEase have focused beyond licensing music content to achieve revenue growth. Both companies have built in-house musician platforms that contribute millions of tracks to their streaming service libraries.
Tencent, in particular, has been working on developing AI-driven music production tools for its musicians and applying AI to the listener experience. During its recent earnings call, the company said it was focused on developing its own intellectual property and expanding its live music offerings.
South Africa’s controversial copyright bill
The CISAC report said the organization has been supporting South Africa’s collective management organizations in their campaign against proposed new copyright reforms.
The report says the bill “focuses too much on exceptions that open up many new uses for which creators would no longer be entitled to earn royalties,” a “clumsy” fair use exception that “will Leading to uncertainty, burdensome litigation”.
The organization also said the bill was inconsistent with “international best practices in copyright law.”
“If passed, the bill will harm South Africa’s creative communities, devalue creators’ work and be out of touch with international best practice,” CISAC said. Gadiolong February said.
The bill has been approved by the country’s National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, but has not yet been signed by the president Cyril RamaphosaHe had previously sent the bill back to parliament for reconsideration.
The bill provides exemptions from copyright law that allow persons with disabilities to use the transcription of non-copyrighted material, such as allowing books to be translated into Braille. It also allows libraries to digitize, format convert, and share copyright-protected resources.
Supporters of the bill, the country’s first reform of copyright law in 50 years, say many of its elements are necessary for South Africa’s copyright law to comply with constitutional requirements.
They argue that some of the extensive material damage caused in the fires at the University of Cape Town and Parliament House could have been avoided if libraries could digitize their collections without incurring significant costs.
“Democratizing information and education are important goals, but they should not come at the expense of South Africa’s poets, composers, culture and creativity,” Oron said earlier this year.
CISAC’s annual report was released ahead of the annual general meeting, scheduled to be held in Seoul, South Korea, on May 30 this year.global music business
