ARIA urges Australia to preserve copyright protections for AI training

The music industry groups make their case for licensing at an Australian parliamentary inquiry.

Marcus Reid
October 7, 2026
Culture, Policy
1 min

Close view of black and white piano keys with light falling across their surfaces — Piano photograph by Panda8pie2 under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

Listen to this article

ARIA and PPCA chief executive Annabelle Herd urged Australia to preserve copyright protections as it considers AI training policy. ARIA’s account published on October 6 describes her appearance before the Joint Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence.

A case for negotiated licences

Herd said the groups support frontier model training in Australia when it respects rights holders. She argued that developers should negotiate licences rather than seek changes to copyright law.

She said four agreements involving the major labels and Merlin could cover 90 percent of the world’s sound recordings. That figure is her assessment of the licensing market.

The announcement sets out an industry position in an ongoing inquiry. It does not announce a government decision or a signed licensing agreement.

Illustrative archival photograph titled Keys of music by Panda8pie2 under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Resized and converted to WebP. The photograph shows piano keys and does not depict the inquiry.

Marcus Reid

Marcus Reid is focused on covering the money, rules, and institutional choices shaping AI. He runs from funding rounds and chip deals to regulation, lawsuits, leadership changes, and the business of building enormous computing systems. Marcus follows the incentives behind the announcement. Who pays, who gains leverage, and what changes for everyone else? The voice is direct, measured, and occasionally dry, especially when a grand promise arrives with very little detail.