Music industry fears billions in losses due to AI

Like many other industries, the music industry will not be spared from changes. But a new Gema study now predicts the impact of AI on the music industry.

Since the release of ChatGPT, the boom in artificial intelligence has experienced a real upswing, but not only positive effects are expected from the use of AI in the future.

This is also the case in the music industry, which fears billions in losses through AI. This results from one Goldmedia study commissioned by Gema and Sacem in Germany and France.

What is AI doing to the music industry?

Last year, the market volume of generative AI in the music industry was estimated at around $300 million. The study assumes that this market will increase more than tenfold by 2028 and will be worth about 3.1 billion US dollars.

But what does this mean for musicians? According to the study results, authors’ income will fall by around 27 percent by 2028.

Around 2.7 billion euros would be lost in Germany and France alone over the next five years. The reason for this is a lack of a compensation system for AI.

Even though copyrighted works are used as training data for generative AI models, authors, and creative professionals still need to participate in existing sales or significant growth prospects.

Of the 15,000 authors and creative professionals surveyed in Germany and France, 71 percent fear using AI in the music industry could mean they can no longer make a living.

This is how AI is used in the music industry.

But many, especially younger music creators, are already using AI systems. According to this, more than a third of those surveyed (35 percent) already use artificial intelligence in their work. Among those surveyed under 35, the figure is even 51 percent. 

Forty-three percent of those surveyed even see using AI in the music industry as an opportunity. They agreed that AI can foster new forms of creativity.

However, only eleven percent of those surveyed are convinced that the opportunities of using AI outweigh the potential risks. Sixty-four percent see it precisely the opposite.