1000 артистов выпустили тихий альбом в знак протеста

Правительство Великобритании is pushing forward with plans to attract more AI companies to the region by changing copyright laws. The proposed changes will allow developers to train AI models on the content of artists found on the Internet – without permission or payment – unless the authors refuse to do so in advance. However, not everyone is dancing to the same tune.

On Monday, a group of 1,000 musicians released a “silent album” to protest the planned changes. The album – titled “Is This What We Want?” – features tracks by Kate Bush, Imogen Heap, modern classical composers Max Richter and Thomas Hewitt Jones, among others. It also features hundreds more collaborators, including such famous names as Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, Billy Ocean, The Clash, Mystery Jets, Yusuf/Kat Stevens, Riz Ahmed, Tori Amos, and Hans Zimmer.

But this is not Band Aid Part 2. And this is not a collection of music. Instead, the artists have put together recordings of empty studios and concert venues as a symbolic representation of what they believe will be the consequences of the planned changes to copyright law.

“You can hear my cats moving around,” Hewitt Jones described his contribution to the album. “I have two cats in my studio that bother me all day when I’m working.”

Speaking even more frankly, the titles of the 12 tracks on the album contain a certain message: “The British government should not legalize music theft for the benefit of AI companies.”

The album is just the latest step in the UK to draw attention to the issue of copyright infringement in AI training. Similar protests are taking place in other markets, such as the United States, which demonstrates the global concern of artists.

Ed Newton-Rex, who organized the project, is