An initiative has emerged in the music market to ban the monetization of content created by artificial intelligence (AI). This is due to financial losses resulting from the use of AI to create songs that imitate the voices of famous artists. The expected losses for musicians are estimated at 3.5 billion rubles annually. The music industry demands that works generated by neural networks should not be protected by copyright and should not be subject to monetization.
The proposal was put forward by the National Federation of the Music Industry (NFMI), which includes major labels such as "Black Star" and "Lotus Music." Nikita Danilov, CEO of NFMI, stated that under current legislation, only works created by human creative labor can be protected by copyright. This especially concerns so-called AI covers — songs created by AI in the style of other famous performers, who can receive royalties for listens on streaming platforms.
However, representatives of large technology companies, such as "Yandex," believe that AI should be seen as a tool used by humans to realize a creative idea. They insist that works created with AI should retain copyright protection, as the creative contribution of the human is preserved.
Lawyers and specialists note that the question of the legal classification of such works remains open. Some argue that AI should be considered a tool, while others argue that such works may be recognized as derivative works or phonograms with copyright protection. However, opinions on this issue are generally divided, and the issue of legal protection of AI-generated works will likely be discussed for a long time.
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