Musicians fight uphill battle as AI infiltrates streaming platforms, cutting into royalties

Musicians are calling for regulations and finding creative ways to fight back as AI "bands" climb the charts on streaming platforms, soaking up already meagre royalty payments.

But as a major musicians' union works for legal change, a copyright expert says the law is failing to keep up with artificial intelligence. This comes as an act called The Velvet Sundown has hit 1.2 million monthly listeners on Spotify after stirring controversy over its use of AI, sparking conversations about the future of the music business.

"It's obviously a challenge in the industry," Allistair Elliott, director of Canadians affairs for the American Federation of Musicians, which represents 70,000 professional musicians in the U.S. and Canada, told CBC News.

"Same as everything else, the technology gets created and gets used before there's any guardrails or policies in place to protect musicians."

Elliott said musicians should have to provide consent for their work to be used to train AI learning models, and they should be compensated if they do consent.

He said he hopes to see the federal government step up with policies and legislation but acknowledges that a "careful balance" needs to be struck between the advancement of technology and the protection of creators.

If that doesn't happen, Elliott said, he worries the technology could "eradicate" a generation of creative workers.

"The frustration, I think, for creators is governments tend not to move very quickly," he said.

While AI can't compete for the live music market — at least not yet — Elliott said there are a lot of musicians who only make recorded music, be it for television, movies or commercial jingles, whose livelihoods will be directly affected by AI.

CBC News reached out to the Department of Canadian Heritage, but late Friday it said it wasn't yet ready to comment.

Kristian Heironimus, a Florida-based musician who records and tours under the name Velvet Meadow, was miffed to see The Velvet Sundown amass such a huge following when it seemed elements of the name and imagery were eerily similar to his own.

"It's definitely disheartening," he said in an interview.

But instead of getting down about it, the multi-instrumentalist set to work tracking guitar, bass, drums and vocals on a fuzzy, garage-rock inspired "diss track" called The Velvet Sundown, released July 1.

"Pick a real guitar to play, not damn mouse," Heironimus sings. "Cut your teeth just like me, and all the artists whose fingers bleed."