LONDON: Pop legend Paul McCartney will release a silent music track next month as part of a silent album to protest UK copyright law changes that would give exemptions to tech firms.
Other artists such as Hans Zimmer and singer Kate Bush have joined the project, highlighting what they say are the dangers artificial intelligence (AI) poses to the creative industries.
McCartney’s contribution to the album “Is This What We Want?” will draw “attention to the damning impact on artists’ livelihoods controversial government proposals could cause,” the artists behind the project said in a statement.
Called “Bonus Track”, it is a two-minute-45-second recording of an empty studio featuring a series of clicks.
More than 1,000 artists, including Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn and Jamiroquai, have collaborated on the silent album, which was first released in February.
They maintain that the government’s law changes “would make it easier to train AI models on copyrighted work without a licence”.
“Under the heavily criticised proposals, UK copyright law would be upended to benefit global tech giants. AI companies would be free to use an artist’s work to train their AI models without permission or remuneration,” they added.
The changes “would require artists to proactively ‘opt-out’ from the theft of their work – reversing the very principle of copyright law,” they added.
Only 1,000 copies of the vinyl album have been pressed.
Source: CNA
