As discussions regarding technology in music continue, the position of music creators in this new copyright framework continue to be threatened.
In 2021, the Government of Canada launched consultations on the implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) on Canadian copyright policy. MCNA member, the Screen Composers Guild of Canada (SCGA) set to work, considering many aspects of those implications before coming up with their submission for government.
The resulting document outlines SCGC’s position on whose name goes on the new copyright, and the processes for tracking inputs and participants in the authorship of those new musical works. There is no place for the name of the software company – only those creators who guided the process and the authors of the underlying works that were used to influence the outcome.
From the document’s introduction:
All creators and consumers benefit from innovation. AI technology, however defined, will undoubtedly provide artists, composers, and songwriters with new means of creating art and music, just as it will provide publishers, distributors, and other intermediaries with new ways of identifying and engaging with audiences. However, advances in technology must not be an excuse to erode the natural rights of authors/owners to participate fully in the economic benefits of their work.”
The submission recommends the SCGC proposal for how music copyrights be handled when AI is involved in some way or other with the creation of a new musical work.