Aussie musicians vow to make voices heard in AI copyright war

Australian musicians have vowed to make their voices heard in Canberra as they continue to battle AI firms over copyright.

It’s estimated that songwriters, writers, and other creators have lost millions in royalties due to the AI ​​industry scraping their works into online databases without permission.

On Wednesday, a group of musicians and writers are preparing to hold an event in Canberra in the hope of persuading the Albanian government to act decisively against pressure to relax copyright law.

At the show, many artists will gather in the Mural Hall in the Houses of Parliament and voice their concerns about artificial intelligence.

Singer-songwriter Missy Higgins says everyone in Australia’s creative industries was relieved late last year when the Prime Minister publicly refused to weaken copyright laws.

“At the time, Big Tech and their lobbyists were trying to sell us out by creating an exception called the Text and Data Mining exception,” Higgins told NewsWire.

“Such a change would basically allow the AI ​​to do whatever it wanted with Australian stories and songs, but thankfully the Prime Minister stood by his word.

“He openly supported our musicians, writers and filmmakers and said ‘no’ to Big Tech’s demands. I hope he doesn’t back down from this decision.”

“Australian artists face enough challenges right now without adding weaker copyright laws to the list.

“If these multinational AI companies want to benefit from our creative work, they just need to follow Australia’s existing laws, rather than demanding the government change the rules to help Big Tech make even more obscene amounts of money.”

Fellow artist Jessica Mauboy said releasing music on her own label for the first time this year made her more aware than ever of how important control and creative choice is as an artist.

“The idea that big tech could get a free pass to train AI on my music without my permission is unimaginable,” Mauboy told NewsWire.

“The Albanian government should not sell out Australian culture and take away our right to choose how our work is used.”

While companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI lobby for an exception to text and data mining, artists continue to call on policymakers not to give in.

Representatives from the Australian Recording Industry Association, Australasian Performance Rights Association and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Holders Association will attend the event.

It will also see a range of creators make their voices heard, including ARIA award-winner Mark Seymour, children’s book author Andy Griffiths and singer-songwriter Mahalia Barnes.

“Any plans to weaken copyright law would be a complete reversal of commitments made in October 2025, when the Albanian government ignored a text and data mining exception lobbied for by companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI,” a spokesperson for the organizers said.

“On Wednesday, artists and creative organizations will once again defend existing law and their right to consent to how their work is used by artificial intelligence.

“Established laws are clear and fit for purpose in the age of AI: If companies want to use Australian content, they must ask for permission.”

The move comes after a new online tool revealed how many Australian artists have fallen victim to this type of theft.

It was revealed that hundreds of songs by names such as Kylie Minogue, Nick Cave and SIA were scraped into artificial intelligence databases without paying royalties.