In today’s CMU Daily: The music industry has welcomed new proposals in US Congress that will allow copyright owners to subpoena generative AI companies to find out what content has been used when training their models. The transparency proposals have been made by Senator Peter Welch in the TRAIN Act

Also today: The Association Of Independent Festivals has again called for more government support for the sector now that 72 events have cancelled or ceased operating this year. Meanwhile the Music Venue Trust has announced a new scheme to support grassroots live music backed by Coldplay and Sam Fender

Plus: Earlier this year the BBC announced plans to launch four new radio stations, spin-offs of Radio 1, 2, and 3. It then began a public interest test and, based on that, has revised its plans, especially in relation to the Radio 2 spin-off. However, that hasn’t placated critics of the new stations

New AI transparency proposal in US Congress will “pave the way” for creator compensation says ASCAP boss

New proposals that will allow copyright owners to subpoena generative AI companies for information on what content was used to train their AI models have been tabled in the US Senate by Peter Welch, the Democratic Senator for Vermont. 

The proposals are set out in the Transparency And Responsibility For Artificial Intelligence Networks Act, which neatly abbreviates to the TRAIN Act. 

Explaining why his act is needed, Welch says, “if your work is used to train AI, there should be a way for you, the copyright holder, to determine that it’s been used by a training model, and you should get compensated if it was”. As it currently stands, Welch’s statement announcing the act notes, “few AI companies currently share how their models are trained and nothing in the law requires them to do so”.  

Elizabeth Matthews, CEO of collecting society ASCAP has welcomed the proposals, observing that, “The future of America’s vibrant creative economy depends upon laws that protect the rights of human creators. By requiring transparency about when and how copyrighted works are used to train generative AI models, the TRAIN Act paves the way for creators to be fairly compensated for the use of their work”.  

Transparency regarding training datasets is a key priority for the music industry when it comes to the regulation of generative AI. 

The industry also obviously wants clarification that AI companies that use existing copyright protected works to train their models must get permission from the relevant copyright owners. But that clarification is only useful if you know what works any one AI company included in its training data.

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AIF makes desperate call for government to “step up, and step up now” to get festivals through “devastating period”, as MVT launches new Liveline fund

A total of 72 music festivals were cancelled or ceased operating altogether this year, twice as many as in 2023, according to the latest figures from the Association Of Independent Festivals, whose CEO John Rostron has issued a call for the UK government to “step up, and step up now” to help save the festival sector from further devastation.

The gloomy stat comes as independent festivals and the wider grassroots live music sector continue to deal with incredibly challenging economic conditions. 

The industry argues that more government support is needed to accompany the growing number of industry-led initiatives that can help parts of the sector. That includes the new Liveline support fund for venues, artists and independent promoters just launched by Music Venue Trust in partnership with the Save Our Scene campaign.

The live sector has long called on the government to implement a VAT cut on tickets, similar to that introduced during the COVID pandemic. Earlier this year, MPs on Parliament’s Culture Media & Sport Select Committee - which scrutinises the government’s work and policies in relation to culture, media and sport - proposed a temporary VAT cut to specifically help those operating at the grassroots of live music, but the government recently rejected that proposal.

AIF argues that the failure of government to act decisively on this issue has caused the high level of postponements, cancellations and closures this year.

The BBC has revised its plans for four new radio stations, but critics say they should still be blocked

An assortment of organisations have criticised the BBC’s newly updated plans to launch four new digital radio stations, which will be spin-offs of Radio 1, 2 and 3. 

Although the broadcaster has amended those plans after going through a ‘public interest test’, critics say there remain “unanswered questions”, that media regulator OfCom should still reject the proposals, and that the revised plan “smacks of typical BBC arrogance”.

That’s despite BBC Director Of Music Lorna Clarke insisting that, “we have received a wide range of feedback and reflected much of it in our plans, including significantly redeveloping our proposal for the Radio 2 extension to increase its editorial distinctiveness”. 

The revised plans, she adds, are “unique” with “context, curation and storytelling done in a way only the BBC can do, meeting the evolving expectations of audiences and providing more choice to licence fee payers”.

The BBC announced earlier this year that it was planning to launch four new digital radio stations. It then began its own public interest test, which is now complete. Having revised its plans based on that process, the proposed new stations now need to be approved by OfCom before they can be launched. Among other things the regulator needs to consider the impact of the new stations on commercial audio services. 

Two of the proposed new stations are spin-offs of Radio 1 - one focused on music from the 2000s and 2010s, the other the dance music service already available within the BBC Sounds app. The Radio 2 spin-off will play pop music from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and a Radio 3 spin-off will provide a “classical music experience that helps listeners unwind, destress and escape the pressures of daily life”.