Statement on AI Music
Music is, and always has been, a fundamentally human act. It is born from lived experience, emotion, struggle, joy, and the irreplaceable spark of individual creative expression. At Unchained Music, protecting that spark and the people behind it is central to everything we do.
We recognize that AI technologies are reshaping the music landscape at extraordinary speed. As a distributor and artist services company, we have a responsibility to be clear about where we stand not just to our artists and label partners, but to the broader music community. This means making it clear that even through a glut of musical content hitting DSPs, we will protect the rights of our partners, artists, creators, and fans to control, monetize, and experience music as what it should be.
Our position rests on four pillars:
1. We champion individual human creativity.
The artists, songwriters, musicians, and producers we serve are not interchangeable inputs in a data pipeline. They are the reason music exists. We believe copyright should protect the unique value of human intellectual creativity, and that AI-generated output created without meaningful human authorship should not be treated as equivalent to human-made work.
This is not just a principle we state but rather it is one we enforce. Our Content Policy explicitly requires that all submissions demonstrate genuine human creative input, including editing, arrangement, production, or other artistic contributions. Tracks created substantially or entirely by AI without meaningful human involvement are rejected without exception. We also prohibit mass-produced generic content, royalty farming, and SEO-driven submissions that crowd out real artists and the use of unlicensed datasets, or models with active copyright claims including Suno, Udio, and Mureka.
2. We support the responsible use of AI as a creative tool.
We support innovation. Technology has always evolved alongside music. From multitrack recording to synthesizers to digital audio workstations, tech has led innovation as well as the creation of new sounds and genres. AI is no different. We encourage our artists to explore AI-powered tools for ideation, brainstorming, sound design experimentation, and workflow enhancement. When AI serves as a tool in the hands of a human creator, it can expand creative possibilities without replacing the artist at the center of the process.
AI should assist human creativity, not supplant it. That is why we are a proud supporter of the Principles for Music Creation with AI, the AI4Music initiative founded by Roland and Universal Music Group. These principles affirm that humanity and music are inseparable, that technology has long supported human artistic expression, and AI will amplify, not replace, human creativity. We stand alongside over 100 music technology companies, academic institutions, and production and distribution partners who have endorsed these principles.
3. We do not permit AI training on music distributed through our platform
The music our artists and labels entrust to us for distribution is not data to be mined by Unchained or anyone else. We do not grant, and will not grant, rights for any third party to use music distributed through Unchained Music to train, develop, or improve generative AI models without the explicit, informed consent of the individual rights holders. We reject the notion that broad terms-of-service language should serve as a backdoor to exploit creators' work. Our artists' music belongs to them and they should have the right to choose how it is used.
4. We hold AI tools to an ethical standard.
Our content policy requires that any AI-assisted submissions be created using tools built on transparent, ethically sourced datasets. We direct our artists to Fairly Trained's certified models as a reference for platforms that have been independently verified to respect creators' rights by not using copyrighted work without a license. Fairly Trained, a nonprofit founded by Ed Newton-Rex, provides the kind of independent, third-party accountability the industry needs and we believe artists deserve to know whether the tools they use were built on explicit and enthusiastic consent.
Our commitments in practice
We understand that principles without enforcement are just words. Our Content Policy translates these values into concrete, enforceable standards including requiring proof of rights and licensing documentation for AI-generated content, mandating metadata attribution for AI tools, and rejecting releases from unverified AI sources. We actively review and enforce compliance as part of our industry-leading music review policies, and users who repeatedly violate these standards face suspension or removal.
We believe the future of music can embrace innovation without abandoning the people who make it possible. That future starts with trust, and trust starts with clarity.