Sony Music sends letters to 700+ AI companies, developers, and music streaming platforms warning over the “unauthorized use” of Sony's content in training AI

Financial Times 2024-05-18 Daniel Thomas

Context & Ripple Effects

Sony Music’s intervention follows an earlier push by UMG to have streaming services prevent AI developers from scraping copyrighted lyrics and melodies, indicating that music-rights owners were already shifting enforcement pressure toward distribution platforms as well as model builders.

The notices extend that dispute across a broad set of AI and streaming recipients. They matter as an early attempt to make training-data provenance a commercial and legal issue before generative-music tools become embedded in consumer distribution.

First-order effects

The more than 700 recipients face an immediate need to assess whether Sony-controlled recordings or other content were used in training or related development workflows.
Sony Music puts AI developers and music platforms on notice that it expects control over training use of its catalog, strengthening its position in subsequent licensing or enforcement discussions.

Second-order effects

Streaming platforms may face increased pressure to police access by developers, echoing UMG’s earlier request that services block AI scraping and making platform data-access rules more consequential.
Developers seeking to reduce exposure have a clearer incentive to pursue catalog permissions; later reporting of YouTube’s licensing discussions with major labels for AI music tools illustrates the commercial route such pressure can support.

Third-order effects

If rights holders sustain this approach, generative-music products may increasingly depend on licensed catalogs and auditable training-data practices rather than broad, unverified web-scale ingestion.
The enforcement path can also mature beyond notices: Sony later paired copyright claims against an AI music company with technology intended to identify copyrighted music in AI-generated songs, pointing toward a combined licensing, detection, and litigation model.

The trend: Music rights holders are moving to turn AI training data from an assumed input into a controlled, licensable, and increasingly traceable asset.

Discussion

@ryanmorrisonjer Ryan Morrison on x
In the end this will be settled through court or new legislation. I suspect long-term training data won't be included in any copyright content rules. It'll be fair game. But the restriction will be on output. Want to sell a song — first make sure it doesn't sound like any
@quinnypig Corey Quinn on x
The same Sony that shipped CDs that installed rootkits on customer computers to combat piracy? Maybe sit this one out.
@julianharris Julian Harris on x
There are only 3 that matter but they'll all be doing it (Warner and Universal)
@danielthomasldn Daniel Thomas on x
Sony Music is sending warning letters to more than 700 artificial intelligence developers and music streaming services globally in the latest salvo in the music industry's battle against tech groups ripping off artists https://www.ft.com/... via @ft
@ksredelinghuys Kyle Redelinghuys on x
Feels very Napster-y.
@emostaque Emad on x
@ednewtonrex Surprised Universal hasn't been on this yet tbh Maybe they will send dead horse heads too At least stable audio is safe 👀
@florian4gamers Florian Mueller on x
With so many demand letters that Sony sends to the AI ecosystem and others, it would be a surprise if they didn't bring some lawsuits later.
@ednewtonrex Ed Newton-Rex on x
Sony Music today sent a letter to 700 AI companies demanding to know whether they've used their music for training. - They say they have “reason to believe” they have - They say doing so constitutes copyright infringement - They say they're open to discussing licensing, and they …
@lucas_shaw Lucas Shaw on x
Sony Music is warning streaming services + AI companies not to train on its data without asking for permission. @ashleyrcarman https://www.bloomberg.com/...

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