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Musicians, creative industry leaders and politicians joined forces at Westminster today (Wednesday May 7) to call on the Government to ditch plans to allow AI tech firms to steal their work without payment or permission.
07.05/2025: Musicians, creative industry leaders and politicians joined forces at Westminster today (Wednesday May 7) to call on the Government to ditch plans to allow AI tech firms to steal their work without payment or permission.
Stars from the UK’s £125 billion creative sector came armed with placards to make their point at a rally opposite the Houses of Parliament.
The event coincided with a Parliamentary debate when MPs will discuss the Government’s controversial Data (Use and Access) Bill and proposed amendments to ensure transparency and international compliance for AI companies.
However, the Government removed these vital safeguards at committee stage, allowing AI developers to continue their industrial-scale theft of the work of music creators, authors, film-makers, journalists and others.
Among the music creators at the event were multi-Grammy Award-winning producer and composer Giles Martin, acclaimed artist and producer Bishi, violinist Braimah Kanneh-Mason, musician and music industry spokesperson Crispin Hunt, artist and musician Igor Haefeli of the band Daughter, and many more.
MPs and peers from across the political spectrum who attended included Alex Sobel MP, Pete Wishart MP, Victoria Collins MP, Colum Eastwood MP, Samantha Niblett MP, UK Music Chair Lord Watson, Lord Watts, and Lord Clement-Jones.
Following the photocall, UK Music Chief Executive Tom Kiehl and Director of Campaigns and Engagement Olga FitzRoy attended Parliament to meet with members of the CMS select committee and hold a mini photo session in support of the campaign.
Creative industry leaders are demanding the Government adopts key amendments to the Bill which would compel AI companies to disclose whether human creators’ work has been used in training AI models and would allow creators to enforce their rights under existing copyright rules.
At present, creative works such as songs, films, paintings and newspaper articles are protected under the UK’s strong copyright law.
However, the Government proposed in a consultation late last year sweeping changes to give tech firms free access to British music, films, books, and news to train AI models without permission or payment for the people who created it or own the rights. Creators would have to register an unworkable ‘opt-out’ if they did not want their work exploited by such firms.
Amendments to the Bill would provide a welcome safeguard and help prevent artists’ intellectual property rights being stolen by unscrupulous AI companies.
UK Music Chief Executive Tom Kiehl said: “The Government’s proposals to rip up existing copyright laws and allow AI firms to steal the work of our creators without payment or permission would be devastating for our industry, which is why we are strongly backing these amendments to the Data (Use and Access) Bill.
“If we fail to protect the rights of our world-beating creators and music companies, we risk losing the next generation of talent and threatening the £7.6 billion that music contributes to our economy and the 216,000 UK jobs the sector supports.
“Artists such as Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Elton John are among the many who have warned of the enormous damage the Government’s proposals could inflict. We will continue to stand with them and fight for our creators.
“UK Music wants to see greater transparency from AI companies. This is a golden opportunity for Government to get behind that and put the music industry first in these discussions.
“At the moment, AI is stealing music without permission and that is fundamentally unfair, so we need to get to a situation where transparency is put at the heart of AI processes.”
Producer Giles Martin said: “I would like the Government to realise that the way they are approaching big tech and artists is simply wrong. The idea that anyone can steal anything unless you stop it from happening is absolutely crazy.
“The Government should be protecting artists right now; they should be protecting individuals and their creations. It’s not a question of greed on behalf of the artists community, it’s a question of making sure big tech doesn’t have control over all creation.
“So the way the Government is approaching this is completely wrong – it doesn’t make sense for us to be in a situation where a young person can write a song or create something and the only way that can’t be stolen is if they ask for it not to be. It should be for the Government to protect them.”
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Creative Industries and Politicians Join Forces at Parliament with Urgent Call on Government to Stop AI Firms Stealing Music – UK Music
