The partnership between Universal Music Group (UMG) and BandLab Technologies centers around the responsible use of AI to safeguard the rights of artists and songwriters.

Universal Music Group (UMG) unveiled a fresh collaboration with BandLab Technologies, a social music creation platform, on October 18. The partnership aims to advance ethical AI practices within the industry, particularly emphasizing the protection of artists’ and songwriters’ rights.

Michael Nash, UMG’s Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer, underscored the growing significance of this endeavor, stating, “This is more crucial than ever at present, given AI’s growing prominence in the evolution of music creation tools.”

Nash noted that in addition to safeguarding artists’ rights, the collaboration between the two organizations aims to establish ethical practices for utilizing AI in creative endeavors to “advocate for human creativity and culture.”

A comparable viewpoint was shared by the CEO of the Recording Academy, the organization responsible for the Grammy Awards, during an interview with Cointelegraph. He expressed the belief that AI could serve as an “enhancer” of human creativity.

UMG, in collaboration with Google, has previously explored solutions to combat AI deep fakes by developing a tool for legally creating AI tracks using artists’ likenesses. YouTube also introduced guidelines for AI collaboration with the music industry, including the “Music AI Incubator” initiative. Legal disputes concerning copyright infringement in AI have even made their way to the courts, with a U.S. judge denying copyright protection for AI-generated art in August 2023.