Tennessee governor, music leaders launch push to protect songwriters and other artists against AI

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on Wednesday unveiled new legislation designed to protect songwriters, artists and other music industry professionals from the potential dangers of artificial intelligence.

Lee made the announcement while standing in the middle of Nashville’s famed RCA Studio A, a location where legends like Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Charley Pride have all recorded. Inside were top music industry leaders, songwriters and lawmakers, all eager to praise the state’s rich music history while sounding the alarm about the threats AI poses.

“Tennessee will be the first state in the country to protect the voices of artists with this legislation,” Lee said. “And we hope it will be a blueprint for the country.”

The legislation comes as states across the country and federal lawmakers grapple with the challenge of curbing the dangers of AI. The bill has not yet been formally introduced in the Tennessee Legislature and the text of the proposal has yet to be publicly distributed.

Lee said he wants to ensure that AI tools cannot replicate an artist’s voice without the artist’s permission. That means turning to one of the state’s most iconic residents: Elvis Presley.

Presley’s death in 1977 led to a controversial and protracted legal battle over the unauthorized use of his name and likeness, as many claimed that once a celebrity died, their name and image entered the public domain.

However, in 1984, the Tennessee legislature passed the Personal Rights Protection Act, which ensured that personal rights did not end at death and could be passed on to others. It states that “the individual rights… constitute property rights and are freely transferable and licensed, and do not expire upon the death of the individual so protected.”

The move was largely seen as crucial to protecting Presley’s legacy, but has since been praised for protecting the names, photos and likenesses of all of Tennessee’s public figures in the decades since.

It was also monumental in preserving name, photographs and likeness as a property right rather than a right of publicity. So far, only two other states – New York and California – have similar protections, making it easier to pursue damages in court.

But no state has currently implemented vocal similarity protections. And with AI threatening virtually every industry, artists and other creatives are increasingly calling for stronger protections against new AI tools that produce images, music, video and text.

“If a machine is able to take something from someone’s life and experience and recreate it without permission, or use someone’s voice without permission, then let’s just call it what it is: it’s wrong,” said four-time Grammy winner winner. nominated songwriter Jamie Moore.

Ultimately, the goal is to ensure that AI tools don’t scrape an artist’s song or voice and use it to learn how to spit out a song on its own without the artist’s consent, says Bart Herbison, executive director of the Nashville Songwriters Association International. Another important aspect is fighting for correct payment.

Herbison said he saw generative AI tools evolve from writing tricky songs last February to spitting out moving and emotional pieces in October.

“What it can do now is scary. It’s all people can talk about in the writers’ rooms,” he said.

Other AI legislation is expected to emerge across the country as many statehouses resume work this month. In California, a lawmaker has already proposed a measure that would require the state to set security, privacy and non-discrimination standards around generative AI tools and services. These standards would ultimately be used as qualifications in future state contracts. Another proposal has been made to establish a state-run research center to further study the technology.

At the federal level, the U.S. Copyright Office is considering whether to implement copyright reforms in response to generative AI. Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced legislation called the No Artificial Intelligence Fake Replicas And Unauthorized Duplications Act of 2024. Supporters say the measure will combat AI deepfakes, voice cloning and other harmful digital human impersonations.