Sony Group develops tech to identify original music in AI-generated songs
Sony Group’s AI tech can quantify the contribution percentile of each original work.
- Sony Group has developed a technology that can identify original music in AI-generated songs.
- The tech analyzes musicians’ songs and quantifies contributions by percentile.
- Sony Group has not confirmed when the system will launch.
Sony Music Group‘s parent company, Japan-headquartered Sony Group, has developed a technology that can identify original music in AI-generated tracks. This analyzes musicians’ songs used to learn and generate music, quantifying each contribution as a percentile. For example, the prompt could report that “30% of the music used is by the Beatles and 10% is by Queen.”
Nikkei Asia explains that the technology operates through two methods. Firstly, provided that AI developers agree to cooperate, Sony Group will obtain data by connecting to developers’ base model systems. Otherwise, Sony’s new music detection technology estimates the original work by comparing AI-generated music with existing songs. Identifying music used for training and content generation could allow rights holders to collect the appropriate royalties.
Many AI developers have been accused of using copyrighted music without permission to train machines.
For example, songwriters, music production companies, and publishers will be able to collect and distribute royalties. This would include money generated from movies, TV shows, games, and music streaming services. Furthermore, the technology could prevent infringement on copyrights through unauthorized use. This comes at a time when many AI developers are using original content to train their AI models without permission. Indeed, Sony Music Entertainment was among the first major music companies to sue AI music generators Suno and Udio for “mass infringement” of copyrighted material.
Sony Group’s research and development division, Sony AI, developed the technology. According to Nikkei, a related paper has been accepted at an international conference. Sony Group hopes that AI development companies will incorporate the technology into their own models, and content companies will use it in negotiating licenses. However, it remains unclear how proactively AI developers will use the technology to honor copyrights. Similarly, Sony Group has not confirmed when the system will launch.
