The Music Industry's Latest Hit: "Silence Is Golden (And Legally Mandated)
AI, lyrics, fair use -- but not for you.
In what might be the most tone-deaf power move since Metallica went to war with Napster, the music industry has once again proven it's stuck in its greatest hits era of stifling innovation. Anthropic's recent capitulation to music publishers isn't just another legal settlement – it's a masterclass in corporate hypocrisy wrapped in a love letter to obsolete thinking.
Picture this absurdity: An AI company that boldly claims using copyrighted material for training is "quintessential fair use" just agreed to muzzle its own AI from even discussing the very content it believes it has the right to use. It's like claiming you have the right to read books while promising never to quote them.
The real platinum hit here is how Universal Music and friends have managed to effectively criminalize the digital equivalent of humming a tune to your friend and asking, "Hey, what song is this?" Their victory lap includes preventing an AI from helping you find that song stuck in your head – you know, the one that goes... oh wait, we can't even write that here anymore.
This isn't just about protecting copyright – it's about controlling the conversation itself. In their zealous pursuit to protect Beyoncé's "Halo" and Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger," they've managed to put a chokehold on cultural discourse itself.
The punchline? While the music industry celebrates this win for "creativity," they've effectively built a wall between AI and one of humanity's most fundamental forms of expression.
The irony here is that while Anthropic maintains that using copyrighted material for AI training is "quintessential fair use," the agreement they've reached effectively limits many activities that would traditionally be protected under fair use doctrine by people.
The real irony here – it's platinum-record rich. In trying to protect their intellectual property, they've intellectual-propertied themselves right out of the cultural conversation. Slow clap, everyone. Slow clap.
But hey, at least we can still talk about... oh wait, let me check with my lawyers first.
anthropic agrees to work with music publishers to prevent copyright infringement
https://www.engadget.com/ai/anthropic-agrees-to-work-with-music-publishers-to-prevent-copyright-infringement-154742806.html