{"id":287773,"date":"2025-11-28T11:45:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T11:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/287773\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T11:45:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T11:45:30","slug":"artists-could-be-paid-for-ai-music-as-platform-strikes-warner-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/287773\/","title":{"rendered":"Artists could be paid for AI music as platform strikes Warner deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">The world\u2019s most popular AI music platform has struck a deal that could usher in a new era of artists getting paid by tech companies, campaigners say.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Suno, a platform that allows users to create music through text commands, announced a licensing deal with Warner Music Group that settled a lawsuit brought by the label. <\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Warner and other major labels have accused Suno of copyright \u201ctheft\u201d after it trained its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/topic\/artificial-intelligence\" class=\"link__RespLink-sc-1ocvixa-0 csWvlP\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AI<\/a> model on large amounts of music scraped from the internet without permission from artists.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">More than 100 million people have used Suno, including artists like Timbaland, and it was valued at $2.45 billion this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">The deal is the latest between an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/uk\/technology-uk\/article\/pete-townshend-the-who-ai-music-f3kmh5tt0\" class=\"link__RespLink-sc-1ocvixa-0 csWvlP\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AI music<\/a> platform and the industry. Udio, a rival to Suno, struck licensing agreements with Warner, home to Coldplay, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/life-style\/celebrity\/article\/the-inside-story-of-charli-xcx-from-home-counties-to-superstar-5vwhb02w2\" class=\"link__RespLink-sc-1ocvixa-0 csWvlP\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Charli XCX<\/a>, Ed Sheeran, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/culture\/books\/article\/dua-lipa-the-popstar-turned-tycoon-on-immigration-books-and-men-vwjwfdqlc\" class=\"link__RespLink-sc-1ocvixa-0 csWvlP\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dua Lipa<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/sunday-times-rich-list\/profile\/article\/how-bruno-mars-became-a-pop-god-xpr06h82jmn\" class=\"link__RespLink-sc-1ocvixa-0 csWvlP\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bruno Mars<\/a>, last week and Universal Music Group last month. Campaigners say these deals are evidence that ministers do not need to go ahead with a plan to change copyright laws to try to lure AI companies to the UK.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Ed Newton-Rex, a composer and chief executive of Fairly Trained, a non-profit that certifies AI companies for fairer training data sourcing, said the music and AI industries were \u201cmoving out of the Napster phase and into the Spotify phase\u201d. He compared it to when illegal music downloading was replaced by streaming. <\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">He added: \u201cI think this is a massive win for creators. It\u2019s a move away from the wild west of AI companies training on whatever they like and towards a world where people pay for their training data. What is great about this settlement and others like it is that they show that licensing is possible. I really hope that the government looks at this and says: \u2018perhaps we were mistaken when we proposed changing copyright law in a way that would have essentially destroyed the licensing market prematurely on the basis of advice from people with huge vested interests.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Charli XCX performing at Billboard Women in Music 2024.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/\/cbc18436-9ac0-4f59-9787-c7e0470dd522.jpg\" class=\"responsive-sc-1nnon4d-0 bAbKns\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Charli XCX is one of the artists signed to Warner Music Group<\/p>\n<p>RICH POLK\/BILLBOARD\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Owen Meredith, the chief executive of the News Media Association, said: \u201cThe government must recognise that the uncertainty it has generated around UK copyright law is stalling further progress. The secretary of state\u2019s December update to parliament is the perfect opportunity to provide certainty and confirm there will be no text and data mining exception, and to make clear that by stepping out of the way the government will supercharge the growing licensing market.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Last week Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, said she wanted to \u201creset\u201d the copyright issue, indicating that she was sympathetic to artists\u2019 demands not to have their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/uk\/technology-uk\/article\/technology-secretarys-aide-backed-weaker-copyright-rules-for-ai-xjw9020qq\" class=\"link__RespLink-sc-1ocvixa-0 csWvlP\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">works scraped by AI<\/a> companies without payment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Under the Suno-Warner deal the AI company will change its software and only allow the downloading of new tracks to paid users, who will also face limits. This is designed to stem the flow of pure AI music, which has alarmed artists who say it crowds out their work.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Artists will be able to opt in to allow their likeness and sound to be used by Suno users, who often instruct the AI to \u201cmake a track in the style of \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Suno acquired Songkick, the live music concert discovery platform, as part of the agreement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">\u201cThis landmark pact with Suno is a victory for the creative community that benefits everyone,\u201d said Robert Kyncl, the chief executive of Warner Music Group.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl speaking at the Bloomberg Screentime conference.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/\/20f17bb5-c0a9-4ce9-a713-0809eb8e51fc.jpg\" class=\"responsive-sc-1nnon4d-0 bAbKns\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Robert Kyncl<\/p>\n<p>PATRICK T. FALLON\/AFP\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Mikey Shulman, the chief executive of Suno, said: \u201cOur partnership with Warner Music unlocks a bigger, richer Suno experience for music lovers, and accelerates our mission to change the place of music in the world by making it more valuable to billions of people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">Suno has still to settle lawsuits from Sony and Universal Music Group, independent artists and collecting societies. Udio has yet to reach a deal with Sony.<\/p>\n<p id=\"last-paragraph\" class=\"responsive__Paragraph-sc-1pktst5-0 gaEeqC\">The Future of Music Coalition, which lobbies for musicians\u2019 rights, posted on X that there were \u201cnot enough details about this settlement to be able to really evaluate it\u201d. It added: \u201cOpt-in only is good, and changes to the model are important but it\u2019s no secret that plenty of musicians would prefer to see Suno sued into oblivion.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The world\u2019s most popular AI music platform has struck a deal that could usher in a new era&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-287773","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-technology","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}