Recently, an unprecedented wave of protests has been set off in the British music industry. More than a thousand musicians have jointly released a "silent album" titled "Is This We Want?" to express their strong dissatisfaction with the UK government's proposed copyright law modification. The core of this protest is that the new bill may allow tech companies to train AI technology using copyrighted music works without permission and without paying.
This special album brings together the "silent" works of many well-known musicians, including Kate Bush. Each track symbolically expresses the artists' demands for copyright protection in its unique "silent" form. The music industry generally believes that the government is sacrificing the legitimate rights and interests of musicians in order to support the development of the technology industry, and the new bill is tantamount to "legalizing music theft."
Ed Newton-Rex, organizer of the protest, pointed out that the "option-out" mechanism adopted by the new bill is not feasible in practice. This mechanism will force artists to take on the heavy burden of tracking and preventing their work from being used, a task that is nearly impossible for most independent musicians. Newton Rex emphasized that the music industry is not against technological progress, but hopes to find a reasonable balance between technological innovation and creators' rights.
It is worth mentioning that Newton Rex himself founded the music creation platform Jukedeck, which was later acquired by TikTok. He has shifted from the field of science and technology to protecting his rights for artists, and he can better understand the positions and demands of both parties. His petition against unauthorized technology training has received tens of thousands of signatures, which fully demonstrates the widespread concerns of the artist community on the issue.
Faced with the possible adverse effects of the new bill, many musicians are considering turning their creative focus to a more complete market for copyright protection. Composer Hewitt Jones even expressed protests through performance art, suggesting that the place of music may be transferred to countries such as Switzerland that pay more attention to copyright protection.
Artists are generally concerned that the long-standing model of encouraging online sharing of works to increase visibility is no longer sustainable. If the new bill is implemented, it may cause more artists to stop creating and sharing their works, causing immeasurable losses to the entire music industry.
At present, "Silent Album" has been launched on major music platforms, and all proceeds will be donated to musician charity. The music industry hopes that through this "silent" protest method, it will arouse widespread attention and in-depth discussions in the society on the balance between copyright protection and technological development.