GEMA sues Open AI
TONO's German sister society GEMA has sued Open AI for training its ChatGPT service on song lyrics GEMA manages without permission. “A victory for GEMA would give rights organizations in Europe a real negotiating position with AI companies,” says Inger Elise Mey at TONO.
/ 22/11/2024 / Willy MartinsenGEMA announced a few days ago that it has sued Open AI for using copyrighted song lyrics it manages in the training of ChatGPT without obtaining permission from GEMA. The goal is to force a licensing agreement that would pay authors for the exploitation of their works.
– This is a very important case in principle that we at TONO will follow closely going forward. A ruling in GEMA's favor could set a new standard for licensing AI services in Europe, says Inger Elise Mey, who is a lawyer and department director for International at TONO.
– Open AI and similar companies do not acknowledge that they need to obtain a license from copyright holders. They claim that they have the right to train their models on protected music, citing the 'fair use' doctrine in the US and an exception in the EU directive on the digital single market. This is something that the rights organizations completely disagree with, says Mey.
Mey says a legal decision in this area is absolutely necessary.
– It is only when the copyright organizations can grant permission for a license that we will actually be in a negotiating position. When we get a European ruling that hopefully establishes that tech companies must have the authors' permission to use their music, we will also be able to demand that the tech companies meet TONO at the negotiating table, she says.
The lawsuit comes in the wake of a report by Gold Media commissioned by GEMA and Sacem showing that the global market for generative artificial intelligence had a turnover of $3,1 billion in 2023. Of this, music applications accounted for $300 million. This is expected to increase tenfold by 2028. Mey believes this marks the beginning of a new value gap in the music industry.
– We have previously fought against the value gap, where social media made huge sums of money from music without compensating the creators. This was partially resolved with the DSM Directive in 2017. Now we see a new economic gap, where AI companies are doing the same. Rights holders are left without income for their music. We believe that solving this problem is the most important issue within the creative and cultural sector in Europe now, says Mey.
GEMA bases its lawsuit on the use of song lyrics. It is easier to document training on song lyrics than on music, says Mey:
– If a model is asked to write lyrics in the style of a specific lyricist, GEMA has proven that what is generated is very similar or partly identical to the original text. It is currently more difficult to prove that specific existing compositions have been used.
Mey emphasizes that GEMA's lawsuit will be of great importance in defining the role of rights organizations in a future where artificial intelligence will take on an increasingly larger role.
– This lawsuit is absolutely necessary to bring the technology giants to the negotiating table. We fully support GEMA. If you have used copyrighted material without permission, you have to pay for it, says Mey.
– Has TONO considered lawsuits against artificial intelligence services?
– The key thing now is that there is a European ruling in favor of the rights holders. This is sufficient to change the balance of power in the entire European area. GEMA is one of Europe's largest management companies, and is taking up the fight on behalf of everyone. That said, lawsuits are also always a means that TONO can use. But in this particular context, it is important to be clear that GEMA manages lyrics independently of music. TONO, which only manages lyrics by virtue of them being part of a musical work, does not, concludes Mey.
Visit GEMA's information page about the lawsuit here:
https://www.gema.de/en/news/ai-and-music/ai-lawsuit