AI Music's Looming Takeover

The music industry faces disruption as AI music generation tools rapidly advance. These tools can now produce human-like music in bulk, presenting both opportunities and challenges. AI music generation presents challenges including maintaining long-term musical structure and generating original compositions that resonate emotionally. Copyright issues also arise, particularly regarding ownership of AI-generated music and the use of copyrighted material in training AI models. The US Copyright Office denies copyright protection for fully AI-generated compositions.

Despite these challenges, AI offers creative diversity, personalization and therapeutic applications within music. AI can replicate existing musical styles, but struggles with originality and complex structures. Human involvement, such as tweaking melodies or writing lyrics, may be enough to retain copyright over the final music. AI-assisted works may be eligible for copyright if an artist actively shapes the composition.

As AI music generation evolves, legal frameworks will need to adapt, establishing clear rules about copyright ownership and usage rights. Responsible AI use, focusing on legally obtained training data, can minimise infringement risks. The future likely involves human-AI collaboration, where AI tools augment human creativity.