Global music body warns Australia’s weakening AI copyright laws

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), representing recording industry bodies worldwide, said its members were worried about Australia potentially agreeing to AI companies’ demands other nations had rejected.

Labor is mulling copyright changes in a suite of policy overhauls around AI, including datacentres, online safety, workforce, energy and the economy. While prime minister Albanese promised “the strongest possible protection”, warning it would be “theft” if creatives were not paid for their work, creative industries were alarmed after AI companies requested a weakening of copyright law to train on Australian material.

Some AI companies have rejected making licensing agreements under existing copyright law, saying it was too difficult, with Anthropic suggesting an “opt-out” model that would allow it to scrape content unless rights holders signalled an objection. In recent answers to a parliamentary committee on AI, responding to questions from the independent senator David Pocock about why it couldn’t replicate the kind of deals Spotify had made, OpenAI said the music streaming giant “has a different business, where it primarily transmits un-transformed copyrighted content, so would be expected to license content that it streams”.

The attorney general, Michelle Rowland, said via a spokesperson last week that the government was “committed to supporting” creatives and pledged that “any future copyright changes deliver meaningful control and fair compensation”.