Music labels’ copyright fight reflects broader challenges with Open AI

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The copyright suit filed by top music labels such as Saregama, T-Series and Sony, concerned about the unauthorized use of their sound recordings by Microsoft-backed Open AI, reflects the broader challenges posed to India’s music business. Entertainment and legal industry experts say labels which hold the rights to extensive music catalogues face the risk of their content being used without proper compensation or acknowledgement.

This threatens their ability to maintain control over intellectual property and profit from it. For musicians, vocalists, and songwriters whose works are used to train AI models, there is a risk of being denied rightful compensation. Additionally, artists may lose control over how their music is utilized, including creating derivative works or new content generated by AI systems using their original material.

The Indian Music Industry (IMI), representing major music labels that have filed the suit, declined to comment on Mint’s queries since the case is sub judice. T-Series, Sony, and Saregama also declined to comment. “The use of copyrighted music by OpenAI raises important legal and financial concerns for the music industry.

For music labels, unauthorized AI training threatens their core revenue streams, as labels rely on licensing fees and royalties for sustainability. If AI models can freely train on copyrighted content without consent, labels risk losing control over their assets," Bharadwaj Jaishankar, partner at IndusLaw, said. For artists and composers, the issue is both financial and creative.