80,000 Musicians Demand 'Consent, Credit and Compensation' on AI

By Tom Whitfield

The American Federation of Musicians, the largest musicians' union in the United States with more than 80,000 professional members, launched an advocacy campaign on Tuesday called "Human Made, Human Paid" — and in November it will reopen negotiations on the Sound Recording Labor Agreement with the four major labels.

The targets are named: Universal Music Group, Sony, Warner, and Hollywood Records, the Disney-owned label. The union wants three things written into the contract — the right to approve or refuse the use of their music for training AI models, transparent credit, and payment for both AI use and label licensing deals.

The campaign's premise is simple. Labels, the AFM argues, are earning millions by licensing their catalogs for AI development while the musicians who made those catalogs valuable receive nothing, because no rules, boundaries, or compensation schemes for AI currently exist.

"The record labels cannot pocket profits built on the backs of human artistry while cutting working musicians out of the equation. Human Made, Human Paid is about consent, credit, and compensation," AFM International President Tino Gagliardi said in a statement to Rolling Stone.

Gagliardi did not soften the union's position on technology deals struck without artists. "The AFM will not stand by and allow tech deals to bypass the very artists who made those music catalogs valuable in the first place," he said.

What does the November negotiation actually change?

The Sound Recording Labor Agreement, or SRLA, is the written union contract that governs royalty rates and healthcare agreements for working musicians. Reopening it gives the AFM its first formal opportunity to put AI-specific language in front of the labels. Whether the labels accept that language is another matter — the campaign announcement itself binds no one.

Industry experts interviewed by Rolling Stone for a March report described AI's advance in music production as "the train has left the station" and a "profound shift" in how artists will make music going forward. That assessment cuts both ways: it strengthens the union's urgency argument, but it also suggests the bargaining power may already sit with the technology's momentum.

What the AFM says it is not doing matters too. Will Wells, an AFM member, composer and producer who has worked with Anthony Ramos, Cynthia Erivo and the Netflix series Emily in Paris, rejected any framing of the demands as anti-technology.

"We are pro-human creators and pro compensation for our labor. That's what it comes down to. We don't want to stop the advancement of technology," Wells told Rolling Stone. "We just want to make sure that people can have a viable career and there's a viable pathway forward for music makers to sustain a living. That's what we're fighting for. We need more music in the world, not less."

Wells framed the stakes in terms the music industry already claims to hold sacred: intellectual property. "If I've witnessed anything in my group of colleagues, be it fellow union members or the broader music community, the idea that theft of intellectual property would be tolerated is chilling," he said. "That idea that we don't have a say in how our music is exploited is chilling. I think that's what gives so many people unrest."

He added that the SRLA demands are not about the "villainization" of AI or tech advancements in music production, but about the viability of music as a career.

The unanswered questions

The campaign launch names no figures — neither the value of the licensing deals the union says are generating millions, nor the compensation model it proposes. The labels have not publicly responded to the demands. Until November, "Human Made, Human Paid" is a statement of intent, not a contract.

What it does establish is a deadline. When the SRLA talks resume, the four major labels will face a coordinated 80,000-member union asking them to put consent, credit, and compensation for AI use in writing — and the outcome will set a marker for how creative labor fares in the age of machine-trained music.