British Government scraps plan for AI text and data mining copyright exception – Music Business Worldwide

Last year, the British Government set out proposals to amend copyright law in a manner that would permit AI developers to exploit copyrighted works without the permission of the creators and rightsholders behind those works.

This copyright exception unsurprisingly received significant backlash from the UK music industry.

And this week, the British Government announced plans to scrap the introduction of its broad copyright exception for text and data mining purposes.

The news was announced in the House of Commons on Wednesday (February 1) by the intellectual property minister George Freeman, who said he and the DCMS Minister Julia Lopez felt that the proposals were not correct and that would “not be proceeding with these.”

He said: “We are looking to stop them and to return to office to have a rather deeper conversation with the APPG who I met yesterday, with experts in both Houses and with the industry.”

The news has been welcomed by the British music industry, with umbrella organization UK Music noting in a statement that “strong copyright framework is key to the success of the UK music industry, providing economic tools to creators and those that invest in them”.

It added: “The Government’s proposal would have put this framework at risk and caused huge potential damage to a world-leading UK sector.”

Commenting on the announcement, UK Music Chief Executive Jamie Njoku–Goodwin said: “UK Music warmly welcomes the minister’s decision to scrap plans for a catastrophic blanket copyright exception.

“The whole music industry has been united in its opposition to these proposals, which would have paved the way for music laundering and opened up our brilliant creators and rights holders to gross exploitation.”

“The whole music industry has been united in its opposition to these proposals, which would have paved the way for music laundering and opened up our brilliant creators and rights holders to gross exploitation.”

Jamie Njoku–Goodwin, UK Music

Added Njoku–Goodwin: “We are delighted to see the back of a policy that risked irreparable damage to the global success story that is the UK music industry.

“We now look forward to working with the Government to ensure any future plans are evidence-based and allow artificial intelligence and our world-leading creative industries to grow in tandem.”

The decision was also welcomed by recorded music body BPI, whose Chief Strategy Officer and Interim CEO, Sophie Jones, said:

“The talent of British artists, nurtured and promoted by record labels and safeguarded by the UK’s gold standard commitment to IP protection have long been the cornerstones of British music success.

“We welcome the recognition of the fundamental role that copyright protection plays. The decision not to proceed with the proposed broad exception for Text & Data Mining is very welcome.

“We welcome the recognition of the fundamental role that copyright protection plays. The decision not to proceed with the proposed broad exception for Text & Data Mining is very welcome.”

Sophie Jones, BPI

Added Jones: “AI offers exciting opportunities for music and tech to continue to partner in innovation if harnessed in the right way, but comes with great risk to our world-leading creativity if we get it wrong.

“We look forward to engaging in this re-examination of the evidence and potential consequences, and to working with the IPO and DCMS to develop a fully considered approach to ensure that creativity and innovation in music can continue to flourish to the benefit of all.”Music Business Worldwide