YouTube is reportedly in talks with multiple record labels to strike a deal that will 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 testing of an AI song generator called Dream Track for Shorts, but it was never made public. The report now highlights that this work could be for separate AI tools that can also generate songs.
YouTube is exploring AI deals with record companies
According to a report by the Financial Times, YouTube is already in talks with three different record labels to license their songs. Citing people familiar with the matter, the publication said the company had offered lump sums to Sony, Warner and Universal. The deal is said to seek rights to use these copyrighted songs to train its AI models and to allow it to create songs that may be similar in style to them.
However, this could be difficult to achieve. The report points out that artists are not in favor of such contracts because they fear it could undermine their talent and permanently affect their careers, while record companies seem to have a different opinion.
“The industry is struggling with this. Technically, companies have the copyright, but we have to think about how to play it. We don’t want to be seen as Luddites,” the publication quoted an unnamed executive of a major music company as saying.
Explaining the nature of these deals, the report claims that YouTube will make a one-time payment to record labels instead of paying a fee based on the royalties paid by Spotify and Apple. Furthermore, the video streaming giant is unlikely to get a blanket license from the record label, according to the report. Instead, it said the company could only get access to songs from select artists who agree to be part of the deal.
While last year YouTube announced its testing of Dream Track, an AI-powered song generator intended for its vertical video format Shorts, this work is said to be about separate AI tools. However, the functionality will remain the same. The company is reportedly looking to hire dozens of artists to train its AI models that are scheduled to be released later this year.
