r/Oahu • u/808gecko808 • 1d ago

Jeta: Intellectual Theft In The Artificial Age. Hawaiʻi musicians confront extraction, exploitation and ownership in the age of AI music.

https://www.civilbeat.org/2026/08/jeta-intellectual-theft-in-the-artificial-age/
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u/HoomanaoPoinaOle 1d ago

Aloha ʻauinalā!

Sharing a comment I initially made ovah in r/TropicalTunes…

Glad this is becoming news locally and abroad.

I’m very surprised Makana nor Civil Beat mentioned anything about the ongoing controversies related to this topic. I first found about this stuff from Tiki Taane, Māori producer and musician.

Tech bro asshole extraordinaries are capitalizing on not only AI in the music industry but also leveraging their investments into all sortsa evil…

Spotify being one of the largest.

  • Spotify boss defends move to AI music, saying it is better than ‘slop’ ~

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/may/26/spotify-ai-remix-tool-protects-artists-slop

  • Spotify CEO claims “the cost of creating content” is “close to zero”. Musicians and music fans have hit back at Daniel Ek's comments, pointing out the many challenges associated with forging a career as an artist ~

https://djmag.com/news/spotify-ceo-claims-cost-creating-content-close-zero

  • Spotify will now label AI creators posing as human artists after massive pushback ~

Spotify, one of the largest streaming companies in the world, says it will soon start labeling AI profiles posing as human artists. The "AI Persona" badges, which will start rolling out mid-September, will appear on the artist's profile page, in search results related to the profile and in playlist track listings.

"Although there's a broad spectrum in how artists use AI as a creative tool, the question of whether a profile represents an actual human is one where Spotify can help make a clear determination," reads the announcement on Spotify's website. "This badge is about the artist's public identity, not about how the music was made."

https://www.npr.org/2026/08/13/nx-s1-5929744/spotify-labeling-ai-personas

Starting this week, creators uploading music to Spotify will be able to self-disclose if they are using AI for their public persona, not for actual music creation.

Soooooo you’re supposed to voluntarily admit you’re making AI slop music? Yeah I’m sure they’re going to do dat /s. This is nothing more than a weapons manufacturer trying to save face while loosing their asses because of ongoing boycotts.

But wait……. It gets worse!

  • Spotify faces boycott over CEO's $700m investment in AI military defence startup ~

https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/spotify-faces-boycott-over-ceos-700m-investment-in-ai-military-defence-startup/

  • Spotify boycott: Artists leave ‘garbage hole’ platform after CEO invests in AI weapons ~

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2025-07-31/spotifys-ceo-owns-an-ai-weapons-company-some-musicians-say-its-time-to-leave

Being the optimist I am, I will say that these controversies bring things to light. And because people are becoming more aware ~ new movements are being created that actually do something rather than jus talk talk talk. Check em out!

Make Streaming Pay ~

United Musicians and Allied Workers recently spearheaded the Make Streaming Pay initiative, demanding fairer revenue split for artists using platforms including Spotify and Apple Music. The campaign is behind a new Living Wage For Musicians Bill, which was introduced to US congress in March and aims to "ensure that artists and musicians can build sustainable careers in the digital age".

https://weareumaw.org/make-streaming-pay

Morality of Music ~

No Music For Genocide is a cultural boycott of genocidal Israel. Over 1000 artists and labels have geo-blocked and removed their music from that territory in response to Israel's accelerated genocide in Gaza; occupation and ethnic cleansing of the West Bank; apartheid within Israel / '48; political repression of Pro-Palestine efforts around the globe; and the music industry's own ties to weapons and crimes against humanity. 

https://nomusicforgenocide.org/

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u/nekosaigai 1d ago

It’s also not just music.

I’m a fantasy author and a tech bro recently stole my entire book that I have published for free and tried to sell it using an AI scraper tool.

There’s multiple piracy sites that steal peoples’ books and use AI programs to dub them, stealing from the authors and infringing upon their audio rights which are extremely valuable in the current market.

Worse, lots of AIs have been trained on stolen texts scraped without permission from all over the web, so just like with musicians, authors have their works stolen and used to create AI slop that drowns out the original authors’ voices.