A group of over 1,000 musicians have released an all-silent album in protest against the UK’s government’s plans to allow AI developers to freely use copyrighted material. The album consists of recordings of musicians’ empty studios and rehearsal rooms.
Organised by composer Ed Newton-Rex, titled Is This What We Want, artists involved with the album include Sir James MacMillan, Max Richter, John Rutter, The Kanneh-Masons, The King’s Singers, The Sixteen, Roderick Williams, Sarah Connolly, Nicky Spence, Ian Bostridge, as well as Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn and Imogen Heap.
“The government’s proposal would hand the life’s work of the country’s musicians to AI companies, for free, letting those companies exploit musicians’ work to outcompete them,” Newton-Rex said. “It is a plan that would not only be disastrous for musicians, but that is totally unnecessary: the UK can be leaders in AI without throwing our world-leading creative industries under the bus.
“This album shows that, however the government tries to justify it, musicians themselves are united in their thorough condemnation of this ill-thought-through plan.”
Composer and performer Max Richter, who contributed a silent recording, commented: “The government’s proposals would impoverish creators, favouring those automating creativity over the people who compose our music, write our literature, paint our art.”
Kate Bush also contributed a silent recording. She commented: “In the music of the future, will our voices go unheard?”
All profits from the album will be donated to the musicians’ charity Help Musicians. The full list of musicians and groups involved can be seen at: www.isthiswhatwewant.com
The release coincides with the Make It Fair campaign, coordinated by the UK’s creative industry bodies. The Creative Rights in AI Coalition, who launched the campaign, comprises a swathe of creative industry organisations – including the Society of Authors, News Media Association, the British Phonographic Industry and PRS for Music.
Polling commissioned from Reset Tech and YouGov found that the UK public overwhelmingly back transparency in the training of AI models, as well as payment of royalties to artists and creators. 72% of respondents said AI companies should be required to pay royalties to the creators of text, audio, or video used to train AI models.
Jo Twist, CEO of the BPI, said: “We stand behind today’s Make It Fair campaign, which calls on government to protect human creativity in the age of generative AI. Britain’s creative industries… are worth £125 billion per year to our economy, employ over 2.4 million people, and are the source of immense cultural power on the global stage.
“The sweeping changes to copyright law currently being proposed would completely undermine this growth opportunity, essentially making it legal for international AI firms to plunder the UK’s music, books, film and more, all for their own profit and without the need for authorisation or compensation. Creators and rights-holders would in theory be given the option to ‘opt-out’ of having their work used to train AI models – but other markets have shown that opt-out schemes are unworkable in practice, and ineffective in protecting against misuse and theft.”
