Australian and New Zealand rights management organisation APRA AMCOS has endorsed a recent German court decision against AI music platform Suno, with chief executive Dean Ormston characterising the company’s use of unlicensed repertoire as ‘theft’.
The Munich Regional Court ruled that Suno, a US-based AI firm, unlawfully used copyrighted recordings to train its music generation model. The court rejected arguments that the training was covered by the US fair use doctrine, stating that the territoriality principle means German law applies to the use of protected works within Germany.
APRA AMCOS, which represents more than 100,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers, said the ruling reinforces the need for AI developers to obtain licences before using creative works. Ormston stated:
Munich has called it what it is. Not innovation. Theft. The Australian Prime Minister said the same thing at the University of Sydney: ‘no company should use Australian books, music, art or news to build or train AI without the artist’s control. Anything less, is theft.’ We already know what has been taken. Midnight Oil. Cold Chisel. Sia. Crowded House. Lorde. Our members found their own songs inside these systems, uninvited and unpaid. This is not just a German case. It’s a warning to every AI developer, in every territory, including this one. You cannot train on the world’s music and argue the world’s laws don’t apply to you. The path forward is negotiation, built on consent and fair payment. We expect that conversation to start now.
Dr. Tobias Holzmüller, CEO of GEMA, said: ‘All generative AI is based on human creativity; artificial intelligence is nothing without humans. Today, the Chamber made one thing crystal clear: AI models built on stolen intellectual property have no protection under the law. AI service providers must pay for licences rather than helping themselves to our members’ works free of charge.’
