AI and Music update: August 2025

This update follows our April 2025 AI and Music Update and brings you the latest news on AI and the impact on the local music industry.   

Productivity Commission interim report

The Productivity Commission has been asked by the Australian Government to conduct an inquiry into Harnessing Data and Digital Technology. This inquiry aims to identify priority reforms focused on four key areas, including ways to enable AI's productivity potential and new pathways to expand data access. 

Earlier this month the Commission released its interim report to this inquiry that includes a proposal for a Text and Data Mining (TDM) exception to Australia’s Copyright Act. A TDM exception would provide legal cover for AI companies to use copyright-protected works without permission or payment for training their systems. This proposal would legitimise digital piracy under the guise of productivity. 
 

Big Tech Lobbying

The introduction of a TDM exception would treat our cultural heritage and the IP of our members as free raw material for multinational tech giants, which have been advocating for a change to Australia’s Copyright Act, through the peak body the Tech Council of Australia. Chair of the Tech Council Scott Farquhar said in his July Press Club address: My first ask today is for the attorney general to urgently amend our copyright act to look at fair use and text data mining exceptions.  Fixing this one thing could unlock billions of dollars of foreign investment into Australia. 

This call to amend Australia’s Copyright Act would mean that Australian songwriters, composers and music publishers would lose out to these AI platforms. Our AI and Music Report found that, without licensing or regulation in place, the widespread copying and reproduction of music by generative AI platforms could lead to a 23% loss in music revenues by 2028, amounting to an estimated $519 million. 
 

APRA AMCOS Response

APRA AMCOS and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music Office (NATSIMO) have condemned the Productivity Commission's interim report. 

APRA Chair Jenny Morris: "The Commission may couch this as policy exploration, but their direction is clear. They're laying the groundwork to legitimise what they themselves acknowledge is already widespread theft. We've witnessed the wholesale ingestion of Australian works by AI companies in the US, where over 30 court cases are currently underway challenging this practice." 

AMCOS Chair Jaime Gough: "The Commission's recommendation also perpetuates the thoroughly debunked myth that copyright is a barrier to innovation, a favourite big tech talking point. WIPO studies consistently demonstrate that copyright protection actually drives innovation by creating economic incentives for creativity. When we protect creators' rights, we're fostering the very innovation the Commission claims to support." 

NATSIMO National Director, Leah Flanagan: "This interim report exposes a glaring double standard. In the Commission’s 2022 Aboriginal arts and crafts report, they rightly called for firm action against fake Indigenous art and new cultural rights legislation. They recognised that Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) has intrinsic value. Yet now they seem content to allow the digital theft of ICIP that exists in our songs and music." 

The Commission's approach is particularly disappointing given they acknowledge that large AI models are already being trained on unlicensed copyrighted materials and that lawsuits have already been brought against technology companies. 
 

Government Response

APRA AMCOS was united in its condemnation of the interim report with our colleagues across the arts and cultural industries including ARIA PPCA, the Australian Society of Authors, Copyright Agency, Australian Writers’ Guild, Australian Publishers Association, National Association of Visual Arts and colleagues across the news media industries. This response by arts and cultural organisations generated significant news coverage across broadcast, news media and social media platforms.  

A selection of responses from key government ministers is below. This also follows the Government’s previous commitment to maintaining Australia’s copyright system contained in the National Cultural Policy, Revive. 

Arts Minister Tony Burke: "We have copyright laws. We have no plans, no intention, no appetite to be weakening those copyright laws based on this draft report that’s floating around… Use of your work for a commercial purpose, for which you have not authorised, is theft.” 

Treasurer Jim Chalmers: “We don’t have any plans to change or weaken those copyright arrangements.” 

Industry Minister Tim Ayres: stated the government had no plans to change the country's existing copyright laws. 

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley: "It is not appropriate for big tech to steal the work of Australian artists, musicians, creators, news media, journalism, and use it for their own ends without paying for it." 
 

Music and Technology 

Our AI and Music Report found that 54% of surveyed creators say AI can support the creative process, and many members are already incorporating AI into their practices. 

Australian artists are early adopters of innovation – but they demand it's built on consent, credit, and compensation for creators. As APRA Chair Jenny Morris stated: "We're not afraid of AI and our members are early adopters who see its potential. The Commission's approach threatens to undermine this collaborative progress by removing incentives for ethical AI development." 

We are working urgently with industry partners across the creative and media industries on meetings with key decision makers in Canberra to ensure your voices are heard at the highest levels of government. 
 

Global AI Wrap-up

United States 

There are now 48 major lawsuits in the US against AI platforms including OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft and Anthropic. This includes an injunction against music generators Suno AI and Udio AI by Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and Warner Music Group. 

European Union 

Music industry colleagues at CISAC, IFPI and IMPALA are lobbying the EU around a robust implementation of the AI Act, signing a joint statement calling the latest developments “a missed opportunity to provide meaningful protection of intellectual property rights.” 

United Kingdom 

The UK shows how sustained industry pressure can stall harmful copyright changes. While the government's Data (Use and Access) Bill ultimately passed, further changes to the Copyright Act have been stalled due to intense music, literature and arts industry lobbying. 

The House of Lords repeatedly defeated the government on AI copyright issues, with peers voting five times to demand transparency requirements and copyright protections. Though these amendments didn't make it into the final bill, they demonstrated strong parliamentary opposition. 

Despite government ambitions to introduce text and data mining exceptions since 2022, sustained creative industry opposition has prevented substantive copyright law changes.  

Over 40,000 artists including Elton John, Paul McCartney and Kate Bush mobilised against copyright weakening, with the House of Lords calling government proposals "misguided" and warning they would "give away the property rights" of creators. 

What APRA AMCOS is doing

• Leading the creative sector response with NATSIMO against the Productivity Commission proposals
• Coordinating urgent meetings with key decision makers in Canberra
• Monitoring international developments and sharing intelligence with global collecting society partners
• Preparing detailed submissions to protect members' rights