Requires payment to artists 

On Tuesday, the European Parliament took a clear stand for artists in their encounters with AI companies. With 460 votes in favor, 71 against and 88 abstentions, the Parliament now calls on the European Commission to propose new legislation to protect artists in the artificial intelligence market. 

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 / 10/03/2026 / Willy Martinsen

With 460 votes in favor, 71 against and 88 abstentions, the European Parliament voted on Tuesday for the European Commission to develop and propose new legislation to protect music creators and other artists in the artificial intelligence market. 

The proposal that was adopted states that the use of copyrighted material in AI systems must be done with transparency, respect for copyright and fair payment to creative artists.  

The Parliament points out that generative artificial intelligence is increasingly being developed and trained on large amounts of copyrighted material. At the same time, current regulations do not adequately protect authors when it comes to control and payment. Therefore, the European Parliament emphasizes that EU copyright rules should fully apply to all generative AI services operating in the EU, regardless of where the companies are established or where the technology is developed.  

TONO: Necessary for sustainable AI

– This decision sends a clear message to AI companies that copyright also applies to them. The use of creators' works in AI systems must be done with transparency, respect for rights and fair payment, says TONO's Director of International Affairs, Inger Elise Mey. 

– The sustainable development of generative AI requires that rights holders are included in the value chain. Collective management organizations are the best party, with effective licensing solutions that both give AI actors access to repertoire and ensure payment to creators, says Mey. 

The European Commission is currently working on a broad assessment of the EU's copyright legislation. The decision from the European Parliament is intended to provide political direction for this work. 

 

Facts about generative artificial intelligence and copyright

• Generative artificial intelligence can create text, images, music and other content based on large amounts of training data. 

• Many of the datasets used to train AI systems contain copyrighted works. 

• Rights holders have therefore called for greater transparency about which works are used, as well as payment when the works are exploited commercially. 

• The European Parliament's resolution on March 10 asks the European Commission to consider new legislation to ensure transparency, fair remuneration and respect for copyright in the AI ​​market. 

• The decision is an important political signal to the European Commission, which is now considering whether copyright regulations should be updated in light of developments in generative AI. 

Click on the image below to watch a video from the press conference of Axel Voss (EPP, Germany), rapporteur for the report, which was adopted by the EU Parliament on March 10 (The image is a link to the EU website).

 

 

About TONO 
TONO was founded in 1928 and is a non-profit cooperative owned and managed by composers, lyricists and music publishers. TONO manages the economic copyrights in their musical works and grants licenses for the use of protected music publicly for a fee. TONO's financial results are transferred to rights holders in music that has been performed publicly in Norway and abroad. TONO has more than 44,000 members and also represents millions of international authors. In 2024, TONO paid out NOK 741,7 million to rights holders at home and abroad. 

For more information: 
Willy Martinsen, Communications Director at TONO, mobile 909 65 254, willy.martinsen@tono.no