The Music Business
AI and Music Rights
How AI tools can generate songs and clone voices, the lawsuits over training AI on copyrighted music, and what this means for musicians' incomes.
AI can now generate music and imitate voices.
What AI can do
- Generate songs from text prompts.
- Clone famous singers’ voices.
- Create background music cheaply.
Legal battles
- In 2024, major labels sued AI music companies Suno and Udio in the US for training on copyrighted recordings.
- Some labels later signed licensing deals with AI firms in 2025.
Voice rights in India
Indian courts have protected personality rights: in 2024, the Bombay High Court protected singer Arijit Singh’s voice and likeness from AI imitation.
Effects on musicians
- Threat: cheap AI music may replace work in ads, games and background tracks.
- Opportunity: artists can use AI as a tool.
Streaming floods
Platforms face floods of AI-generated tracks, diluting royalty pools.
Economic question
Who should be paid when AI learns from human music? This is a new property rights debate.
An online video uses AI to make a famous singer "sing" a new song. The singer's lawyers ask courts to stop it, citing personality rights.
Training data and voice cloning are major legal battles.
- AI can generate songs and clone voices.
- Labels sued AI music firms in 2024.
- Indian courts protected singers' personality rights.
- AI raises new property rights questions.
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