Sony Music Group (SMG) and its affiliates, including Sony Music Publishing (SMP) and Sony Music Entertainment (SME), have taken a firm stance on the use of their content for artificial intelligence (AI) purposes.

The group, which says it has a long history of investing in the development and promotion of songwriters and recording artists globally, has publicly declared a prohibition on any form of data mining, web scraping, or similar productions involving their content.

This prohibition extends to the use of any SME and/or SMP content for training, developing, or commercialising any AI system. The company says is approach applies to all existing and future content, including creative works that may be identified through publicly available means or listed in databases such as those maintained by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and the International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP).

SMG has been supportive of responsibly produced AI as a creative tool in music creation. However, this declaration reaffirms and reserves all of SMP's and/or SME's prior rights reservations and their respective legal rights, all of which are expressly reserved. The move by SMG and its affiliates underscores the importance of respecting the rights of content creators in the age of AI and data technology.