YouTube is reportedly in talks with multiple record labels to strike a deal that would allow it to use copyrighted songs to train its artificial intelligence (AI) tools. The Google-owned platform is reportedly working on several new AI features that it plans to release by the end of this year. Last year, the video streaming platform announced that it would be testing an AI song generator called Dream Track for Shorts, but this was never made public. The report now highlights that this deal could apply to separate AI tools that can also generate songs.
YouTube exploring AI deals with record labels
According to Financial Times reportYouTube is already in talks with three separate record labels to license its songs. The publication, citing people familiar with the matter, says the company has offered Sony, Warner and Universal lump sums of money. The deal is said to call for the rights to use these copyrighted songs to train its AI models and generate songs that are similar in style to theirs.
However, this can be difficult to achieve. The report highlights that artists are not in favor of such deals, fearing that it could undermine their talent and have a permanent impact on their careers, while record labels seem to have a different opinion.
“The industry is struggling with this. Technically, the companies own the copyright, but we have to think about how we’re going to play it. We don’t want to be seen as Luddites,” the publication quoted an anonymous executive of a major music company as saying.
The report explained the nature of these deals, claiming that YouTube would make a one-time payment to the record labels instead of paying the royalty-based fee that Spotify and Apple pay. Furthermore, it is unlikely that the video streaming giant will get a blanket license from a record label, the report said. Instead, it said that the company may only get access to songs from select artists who agree to participate in this deal.
While YouTube last year announced testing Dream Track, an AI-powered song generator that was targeted at its vertical Shorts video format, this deal would be for separate AI tools. The functionality, however, remains the same. The company is reportedly looking for dozens of artists to train its AI models that are set to launch later this year.
