Copyright law shapes everything about how musicians earn money. The current framework is failing artists — here's why it matters and what reform should look like.
TL;DR
Copyright law is the foundation of music economics but it was designed for an era of physical media. The digital landscape requires updated frameworks that address streaming economics, AI training data, and the reality that most artists can't afford to enforce their rights.
Copyright 101: What You Own and Why It Matters
When you write a song, copyright exists from the moment of creation. No registration required, no formal process — the act of creating an original musical work automatically grants you copyright protection. This copyright gives you exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, perform, and license your music. It's the legal foundation of your entire music income.
In practice, copyright generates money through licensing: someone wants to use your music (stream it, broadcast it, sync it), and they pay for permission. Collection societies (PRS, MCPS, PPL), distributors, and publishers facilitate this licensing and payment on your behalf.
The problem: copyright law was designed for an era of physical media, where each copy was a discrete, traceable transaction. The digital landscape — streaming, social media, user-generated content, AI training — has created uses of music that don't fit neatly into existing frameworks. The law is playing catch-up, and artists are losing money in the gap.
Where the Current Framework Fails Artists
The safe harbour provisions that protect platforms from copyright liability were designed for early internet services that hosted user content. They now protect multi-billion-pound companies like YouTube from fully compensating artists whose music generates enormous advertising revenue on the platform. The 'value gap' between what platforms earn from music and what they pay to artists is partly a copyright problem.
Enforcement is expensive and practically impossible for individual artists. If someone uses your music without permission — a social media video, an unlicensed cover, a sample in a commercial release — pursuing legal action requires money most independent artists don't have. Copyright protection that only works for those who can afford lawyers isn't really protection at all.
AI training on copyrighted music is the latest frontier. AI models trained on millions of songs to generate music have used artists' copyrighted works without permission or compensation. The legal framework for this is undefined, and while lawsuits are proceeding, a clear legislative response is needed urgently.
What Reform Should Look Like
Accessible enforcement mechanisms. A small claims court for copyright disputes (the UK's proposed Copyright Small Claims Tribunal) would allow individual artists to pursue infringement without the cost of full legal proceedings. This single reform would make copyright protection real for independent artists rather than theoretical.
Platform accountability. Safe harbour provisions should be updated to require platforms above a certain size to proactively identify and licence copyrighted music, rather than relying on artists to issue takedowns. The EU's Copyright Directive took steps in this direction; the UK should follow.
AI-specific legislation. Music used to train AI models should be licensed, with compensation flowing to the artists whose work the training depends on. An opt-in model (rather than the current default of training without consent) would respect artists' rights while allowing willing participants to benefit from AI development.
Transparency requirements for streaming platforms. Artists should have the right to detailed, comprehensible breakdowns of how their royalties are calculated, including what their music generated in advertising revenue and how the pro-rata distribution affected their payment.
What Artists Can Do Now
Register your songs with PRS for Music and MCPS. Copyright exists automatically, but registration with collection societies is how you actually collect the money your copyright generates. Unregistered songs generate royalties that go uncollected — that's your money evaporating.
Use Content ID on YouTube (through your distributor) to ensure music used in user-generated content is identified and monetised. Without Content ID registration, your music can be used in millions of YouTube videos without generating any income for you.
Support organisations advocating for copyright reform. The Featured Artists Coalition, the Musicians' Union, and the Music Managers Forum all lobby for legislative changes that benefit artists. Their effectiveness increases with membership and public support.
Stay informed. Copyright law is evolving rapidly in response to AI, streaming, and platform economics. Understanding how these changes affect your rights and income empowers you to advocate for your interests and adapt your career strategy accordingly.
Why This Matters to Noise
Copyright reform might sound like a dry policy issue, but it's fundamental to whether artists can sustain creative careers. Every royalty that goes uncollected, every use of music that goes unlicensed, every AI model trained without compensation represents money taken from artists' pockets — money they need to keep creating.
At Noise, we advocate for a copyright framework that's fit for the digital age: one that's enforceable by individual artists, that holds platforms accountable, that addresses AI use fairly, and that ensures the creators of music are fairly compensated for every use of their work.
The artists we champion — emerging, independent, grassroots — are the ones most harmed by a broken copyright system. They can't afford lawyers. They can't negotiate with platforms from positions of power. They depend on fair, accessible legal protections that currently don't exist. Fighting for those protections is fighting for those artists. And that's exactly what we'll keep doing.