MusicNSW joins with artists across Australia in condemnation of the ongoing exploitation and theft of our creative work by AI tech platforms, without consent and without payment.

New findings published by The Atlantic’s AI Watchdog have confirmed what we have long feared - the flagrant theft of Australian songs and creative works to train AI datasets, without licenses, without payment, without consultation, without consent.

Even within our small team, we have been the victims of this theft and looking outwards to our artist community, we are appalled by how far reaching this exploitation has proven to be. This includes songs that carry language, cultural knowledge and protocols belonging to First Nations artists and communities, work that was never offered for this use, on any terms.

We are deeply concerned that the Australian Government is considering making wholesale changes to existing Australian copyright laws - rolling a red carpet out to these AI tech platforms and datasets to enable the ongoing exploitation of Australian artists and music-makers.

This would be devastating for Australian cultural life, a crushing blow to the Australian contemporary music economy, and catastrophic for the Australian climate - with hyperscale AI data centres accelerating harm in communities and for our environment.

We honestly don’t know what the future looks like, but we know it must be centred around humans - gathering together - in the places that we live - to share story, song, music, art and culture - and with consent, transparency and fair payment, wherever music and AI intersect.