Amazon and Universal Music Group Expand Partnership to Address ‘Unlawful AI-Generated Content’

Amazon and Universal Music Group (UMG) announced the expansion of their partnership on Monday. Among other topics, the two entities highlighted that the collaboration will focus on the advancement of artist-centric principles including increased fraud protection. While both the companies had a collaborative agreement in place, the new partnership expands its scope and includes product innovation, exclusive content rights with UMG artists, as well as a hollistic policy to address the issue of unlawful artificial intelligence (AI) content in the music industry.

Amazon and UMG to Tackle AI Issues in Music Industry

In a press release, UMG announced an expanded collaboration with Amazon that addresses several issues in the music industry, including AI-generated content which mimics the voice and likeness of an artist. In a joint statement, the companies highlighted a “shared commitment” to advance and safeguard human artistry.

“UMG and Amazon will also work collaboratively to address, among other things, unlawful AI-generated content, as well as protecting against fraud and misattribution,” the statement added.

Deepfakes or AI-generated music that resemble the voice and mannerisms of artists is a growing problem in the music industry. Last year, an AI-generated song called Heart on My Sleeve featuring the voices of Drake and The Weeknd was released on Spotify, Apple Music, and other music streaming platforms. The song quickly rose through the charts as listeners and platform believed it to be an authentic song. However, it was removed from the platforms after it was known to be created using AI.

This is one of many such examples where bad actors have used AI tools to generate music in the likeness of popular artists to generate revenue. Since AI-generated music is a legally grey area, authorities have not been able to take strong measures to protect artists so far.

In the announcement, UMG and Amazon acknowledged the disruption of AI-generated content and have stated the desire to collaborate to develop innovative products to identify and flag synthetic content on Amazon's platform.

Notably, earlier this year, Meta signed a similar expansion of agreement to address unauthorised AI-generated content to protect human artists and songwriters. The announcement, however, did not reveal further details on the steps the companies plan to take to minimise the risk of music deepfakes.