AI is already stealing from African musicians
Summary
Unlicensed generative AI is already being trained on copyrighted African recordings and compositions, raising fears that creators’ work will be used without consent and divert royalties. The Berlin AI Think Tank is coming to Johannesburg for the Africa Rising Music Conference to work with local artists, rights organisations and policymakers on governance and licensing solutions. The think tank and Paradise Worldwide promote a Creative Weight Attribution methodology and rights-management tools to measure influence in AI outputs and enable transparent, consent-driven licensing and compensation. Rights bodies warn unregulated AI could divert up to 25% of creators’ royalties, while platforms such as Spotify are testing artist-authenticity measures to protect profiles.