How Musicians Can Get Paid for Training AI

IEEE Spectrum AI · 4 weeks ago

Sureel and SoundVerse are developing systems to pay musicians when their work is used to train generative AI models, with Sureel partnering with Swedish copyright agency STIM to track training data usage and set licensing fees. Sureel's software labels music files with owner instructions and tracks how AI companies use them, while SoundVerse advocates for ongoing royalties based on how much each training piece influences each AI-generated output. The success of these attribution approaches depends on solving complex technical challenges and establishing transparent policies that fairly reward creators without creating new incentives for gaming the system.