THE ESSENTIALS IN 30 SECONDS

  • The Australian Guild of Screen Composers launched its Human Made campaign at the Screen Music Awards in Brisbane on October 28, with attendees wearing © badges.
  • Campaign lead Antony Partos argues AI companies should license copyrighted works and pay creators who opt in, rather than train on them without permission.
  • APRA AMCOS has estimated that generative AI could put A$227 million of Australian and New Zealand music creators' revenue at risk in 2028.

Australia's film and television composers used their main industry night to make a point about artificial intelligence. At the APRA AMCOS Screen Music Awards, held on October 28 at Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane, the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC) launched a campaign called "Human Made" against the use of creative works to train AI systems without authorisation.

What the campaign asks for

The campaign is led by composer Antony Partos, co-founder of Sydney studio Sonar Music and chair of the AGSC's industrial relations committee. Composers, musicians and industry figures wore record-shaped badges bearing the © symbol, and some attendees added "Human Made" pins, according to ArtsHub and The Music Network.

Partos's central demand is consent-based licensing: if AI developers need copyrighted material, they should negotiate permission and pay the creators who choose to take part. He told ArtsHub the campaign targets the weakening of copyright rather than AI as such. His slogan, as reported by The Music Network, is that "Australian creativity is not free training data." He also claims that APRA AMCOS, which administers music licensing and royalties, was not consulted on the changes being discussed.

Why composers are worried

Partos told ArtsHub that an AI system can learn a composer's characteristic harmonies, orchestration and style and produce commercially usable music without copying any single piece. He also said Sonar Music composers had been asked to recreate AI-generated advertising tracks so that productions could claim human authorship.

The money at stake is significant for a group whose income depends heavily on rights. ArtsHub reports that royalties and licensing can account for 70% to 80% of a composer's annual earnings. APRA AMCOS, which represents more than 100,000 songwriters, composers and publishers in Australia and New Zealand, estimated in a 2024 report that generative AI could put A$227 million of the two countries' music creators' revenue at risk in 2028 alone, and A$519 million cumulatively from 2024 to 2028, Digital Music News reported at the time. The society has proposed a voluntary licensing framework for AI training.

Policy backdrop

The campaign comes as the federal government considers changes to Australia's copyright framework to accommodate AI development, The Music Network reports. Neither outlet details what specific amendments are on the table or when a decision is expected, so the outcome of that process remains open.