I guess here we go: All three major record labels—Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music—have struck a watershed deal to license their artists' catalogs as educational material for AI music startup, Clay.
Klay, led by music producer Ari Atty, calls itself an “ethical artificial intelligence” company and is working on a streaming service that will also allow users to remake songs in different styles using the technology. Now it's the first AI music service to strike a deal with all the major labels, and it remains unclear whether artists will be given the option to opt out of having their work used to train Clay's AI model.
News of the deal first broke yesterday (November 19) – the same day Warner settled a copyright infringement lawsuit against Udio, another artificial intelligence music company. (According to TechCrunchThe lawsuit ended with the companies entering into a licensing agreement that Warner said would lead to “new revenue streams for artists and songwriters while ensuring their works are protected.”)
In a press release about the deal with Clay, Warner stated:
While many AI music projects have been accused of unethical protocols and training methods towards the creative community, Clay took a unique path from the beginning, working in partnership with the music industry to create a new active listening model designed to improve both human creativity and the consumer experience. The platform reimagines listening with immersive, interactive tools powered by Clay's Big Music Model, trained entirely on licensed music. All experiences created through the platform will enhance, rather than replace, human creativity, ensuring that artistry remains the focus and copyrights are carefully protected.
Klay is not a hint-based meme generation engine intended to replace human artists. Rather, it's a brand new subscription product that will uplift great artists and celebrate their craft. Under Clay's system, fans can shape their musical paths in new ways while ensuring participating artists and songwriters are properly recognized and rewarded.
The era of artificial intelligence music is coming, with AI-created “artists” such as Ksenia Monet among at least six “artists with or assisted by artificial intelligence” which debuted on the Billboard charts. Meanwhile, eagle-eyed chat watchers also noted that HAVEN.'s AI-generated viral track “I Run” did not appear on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, although it reportedly earned enough points to debut, suggesting it may have some editorial power. Billboard exclude AI music from its flagship chart.
The song was recently removed from Spotify, where it was accumulated more than 13 million streamsand a spokesperson for the streamer said in a statement: “Spotify strictly prohibits artist impersonation. This track was discovered and removed, and no royalties were paid for any streams created.” Real artists love Tomberlin are also still uploading AI-generated songs that mimic their styles to their streaming profiles.
