Policy

Artificial Intelligence and Copyright

The UK is at a crossroads and the Government has a choice to make – either become a global leader in ethical and transparent AI innovation, or sell our incredible cultural sectors down the river to unscrupulous big tech firms.

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What’s The Issue? 

The Government’s new approach must uphold free market, permission-based licensing 

UK Music welcomed the Government’s March 2026 Report on Copyright and AI abandoning plans for a broad Text and Data Mining exception and an “opt out” mechanism. This would have allowed AI companies to use music for training without the permission of creators or rightsholders.   

While this reversal is a positive step, ruling out bad policy is not the same as establishing a good one. The Government must now be swift in introducing policies to ensure a strong licensing market can thrive.  

What can be done to fix it?  

  • Licensing requires enforcement – A licensing market cannot function if rights are not respected. Use of copyrighted material without a license is a breach of UK law. The Government must give AI companies an incentive to pay for the content they use by strongly enforcing copyright law.   
  • No regulatory drift – The longer the Government waits to implement a clear approach, the longer unlicensed scraping will continue. A prolonged “wait and see” period will allow this to continue if the Government is not more proactive in setting out its new approach.   
  • Transparency is the key – Mandatory transparency and record keeping requirements allow creators and rightsholders to know when and how their works are being used. This information is a prerequisite for a strong licensing market.  

The Government must bring in transparency and record keeping for AI companies.  

Over 90% of consultation respondents agreed that developers should disclose training sources. This must now become a legal obligation. These requirements must:  

  • Be enshrined in legislation – They need a statutory underpinning and operate in tandem with copyright legislation.   
  • Be supported by strong enforcement - Sufficient sanctions for those who do not comply are essential to encourage compliance.  
  • Be granular and accessible to rightsholders – It needs to be more than just a vague overview (like Article 53 of the EU AI Act). It must allow for the identification of individual works that have be trained on, and stored in an easily accessible way, so rightsholders can verify use and be compensated.   

Requirements to label wholly-AI generated content must be introduced   

Currently there is no requirement in UK law to label AI-generated content as such. While the Government has announced a Taskforce on AI labelling, with a report to be published in the autumn, it appears to be focused on “best practice” rather than legal requirements.   

Listeners have a right to make an informed choice about what they listen to. If they choose to listen to AI-generated music, they must be aware that they are doing so. Labelling ensures consumers are not misled, as well as helping creators to be properly recognised for their intellectual contributions.  

What’s happening to change it?  

A taskforce on AI labelling has been established by the Government and a report will be published in the autumn.  

UK Music will be working with the Government and our members to set a concrete timeline for Government action in response to the March 2026 report and what it means for the developing AI market. Our key priority remains championing the UK music industry and helping it continue to grow and coexist with AI firms in a fair marketplace.