Thania Garcia Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music rights company, has requested aid from the United States Congress to combat copyright infringement by people using and developing new AI technology.
Jeffery Harleston, UMG’s general counsel/executive vice president of business and legal affairs, spoke as a witness in a Senate Judiciary Committee on July 12 and called for a federal “right of publicity” — the intellectual property right that shields a person’s likenesses such as their voice and name (some states already follow this guideline but Harleston is arguing for a nationwide statute).
According to a report by Music Business Worldwide, the company also requested copyright owners should have awareness of AI training models and that all “AI-generated content” should be labeled as such.
The music industry has been quick to respond to the fast rise of AI technology and its legal complexities. Paul McCartney recently revealed that AI was used to purify an old recording of the late John Lennon in order to create a new song from the Beatles that McCartney is billing as the band’s last original release.
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