Mike FletcherThe recorded music association, BPI brought its Make It Fair campaign to the Brit Awards 2025 with Mastercard on Saturday (1 March), with UK artists and rising stars protesting government proposals on AI and copyright.
The campaign launched on 25 February with the release of a silent album featuring recordings of empty studios and performance spaces, entitled Is This What We Want? and supported by over 1,000 musicians.
On the BRITs red carpet, artists including Myles Smith, Lola Young, Paloma Faith and The Last Dinner Party, had their photos taken with a ‘Make It Fair: Don’t let AI steal our music’ placard.
In addition to the red carpet artists, students at The BRIT School, the free-to-attend performing and creative arts school in Croydon, posed for a photo with the Is This What We Want? album (pictured).
The Government is proposing controversial changes to copyright law, which would make it legal for global AI firms to train generative AI models using the UK’s music, books, film and more, without the need for authorisation or compensation from the works’ creators or rights-holders.
According to what is being proposed, creators and rights-holders would in theory be given the option to ‘opt-out’ of having their work used to train AI models – but other markets have shown that opt-out schemes are unworkable in practice, and ineffective in protecting against misuse and theft.
The BPI’s CEO Jo Twist said: “This campaign’s message to the Government is clear: don’t let AI steal our music. Thousands of Britain’s most beloved artists and creators have already spoken out against the proposed weakening of copyright law, which would have a devastating impact on the UK’s world-leading creative industries.
“We greatly value the artists and students who added their powerful voices to the campaign over the weekend. They represent the incredible human creativity that exists all across the UK and is so vital to protect.”