Artist Rights Symposium 5 will examine whether artificial intelligence (AI) settlement opt-ins include waivers of artists’ publicity rights, potentially extending agreements beyond copyright to their voices and identities.
Chris Castle will lead the closing panel, “Beware the AI Opt-In: Hidden Right of Publicity Waivers,” from 3:00–4:00 p.m. on October 19 at Tweed Recording in Athens, GA.
The symposium is hosted by the University of Georgia Terry College of Business Music Certificate Program, the School of Policy and International Affairs, and the Artist Rights Institute.
Copyright settlements and identity rights
As Suno and Udio settle copyright lawsuits with record companies and music publishers, new licensing arrangements may offer artists and songwriters opt-in participation and revenue opportunities.
The panel will examine whether those agreements also authorize uses of an artist’s identity, involving rights that record companies, publishers or other representatives may not control.
Earlier music settlements addressed uses of copyrighted works. Spotify‘s mechanical royalty settlements in David Lowery‘s class action resolved claims involving unpaid or improperly licensed compositions.
LimeWire‘s settlement concerned unauthorized copying and distribution of copyrighted recordings. Both settlements addressed past copyright infringement rather than permission to reproduce creators’ identities.
Suno’s generative AI technology may also reproduce recognizable aspects of an artist’s voice, performance and identity, characteristics Castle calls “personhood signals.”
Licensing recordings for future model training may therefore involve rights beyond those controlled by a record company or publisher.
The Bartz v. Anthropic settlement compensates copyright owners for specified past conduct involving pirated books. It resolves the litigated claims without expressly addressing the extraction and commercialization of human identity.
What an opt-in may cover
The discussion will consider how an opt-in agreement can combine separate transactions:
- Compensation for past unauthorized uses.
- Licensing for future AI model training.
- Revenue sharing from products developed using those models.
- Authorization to use an artist’s name, voice, likeness or other personhood rights.
Potential provisions include broad releases, perpetual promises not to sue and waivers covering an artist’s name, voice and identity. Their scope may affect compensation, future uses and whether surrendered rights can be recovered.
The panel will examine the distinction between resolving copyright claims and granting permission to commercialize a person’s identity, including whether representatives have authority to grant all the rights sought.
Panel speakers and legal perspectives
Four speakers will join Castle to discuss artist advocacy, litigation and music licensing:
- Jen Jacobsen of Artist Rights Alliance, a longtime artist rights advocate, will focus on meaningful consent, transparency and agreements containing hidden waivers or potentially irreversible grants of rights.
- George Zelcs of Korein Tillery is lead counsel in the Jason Isbell/David Lowery personhood class action against Suno. He will address publicity-rights waivers in opt-in agreements and the remedies artists should retain.
- Gwendolyn Seale of Gwen Seale PLLC represents songwriters and music copyright owners. Her perspective covers licensing authority, co-writer and co-owner interests, compensation and contractual protections.
- Tim Kappel of Wells Kappel is a copyright expert and artist rights advocate. He successfully argued in federal trial court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that his client Cyril Vetter should retain foreign rights through a statutory copyright termination. The case is now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
