A new survey of UK music listeners by the BPI, the representative voice for the UK’s world-leading record companies and label businesses, reveals that music consumers believe strongly that human creativity is fundamental to music, that music made solely by AI should be clearly labelled, and that music should only be ingested by AI systems when authorised.
More than 1,750 music consumers across the UK were asked about their views around AI and music as part of a nationally representative BPI and AudienceNet survey of listening habits, commissioned for BPI’s latest All About the Music 2025 recorded music yearbook.
The survey reveals attitudes towards a number of topics that have been central to current debates and prompted criticism from across the creator community, including from such renowned artists as Paul McCartney, Elton John and Kate Bush, around generative AI and human creativity in light of the UK Government’s proposed changes to copyright law. These include:
Permission and transparency:
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81.5% of respondents believe that music generated solely by AI should be clearly labelled.
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78.5% believe an artist's music or vocals should not be ingested or used by AI without permission from the artist or their record label.
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72.7% believe an AI system should clearly list any music that it has ingested or used for training.
The importance of human creativity in music-making:
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82.7% believe human creativity is essential in the creation of music.
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Over 80% value human-made music more than AI-generated music.
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64.3% of respondents were not interested in AI-generated music which sounds like or impersonates their favourite artist.
The UK Government is proposing highly 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 rightsholders 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.
Intellectual Property rights are the foundation upon which Britain’s world-leading creative industries – which are worth £125 billion per year (GVA) to the UK economy and employ over 2.4 million people - are built.
Copyright law specifically protects original works on authorship, such as music, from being copied, distributed, or performed without the copyright holder’s authorisation.
Many of the public’s views on how generative AI firms use and train on copyrighted work revealed in the survey echo those of the UK’s creative industries, which have spoken out unequivocally against the Government’s proposals on numerous occasions in recent months.
Key moments have included the release of Is This What We Want?, a silent protest album supported by over 1,000 musicians, including Annie Lennox OBE, Sam Fender, and BPI Chair YolanDa Brown OBE DL, and the launch of the Make It Fair campaign across news media.
The Make It Fair campaign was recently continued at the BRIT Awards 2025 with Mastercard, with BRITs-nominated artists including Lola Young, Myles Smith, Rachel Chinouriri, The Last Dinner Party and many more all lending their support.
These latest BPI findings also echo extensive global research carried out by the IFPI in 2023 – to date the largest survey of its kind – which found that 79% of 43,000 respondents across 26 countries felt that human creativity remains essential to the creation of music, with 76% agreeing that an artist’s music or vocals should not be used or ingested by AI without authorisation.
Sophie Jones, BPI chief strategy officer, said: “Britain’s music fans are adding their voices to the chorus of creators and creative businesses who want to see AI develop legally, respectfully and responsibly.
“This research shows support for several of our key asks, including that transparency should be an integral requirement for all AI models, that copyright must not be weakened to favour big tech as the Government proposes, and that music should not be used for AI training without authorisation from the creator or rights holder.
“AI presents myriad opportunities for everyone in the music industry and consumers. Our music business members are innovating - as they always have - with new technology, and are ambitious to play their part in driving the U.K.’s growth agenda. But we can only realise this potential by securing our strong copyright framework, and by developing licensing partnerships that will enable creativity and AI to flourish together.”
Ed Newton-Rex, founder, Fairly Trained, composer, and campaigner for AI companies to respect creators’ rights, added: “This survey reinforces what the government must surely already know: the public overwhelmingly supports the fair treatment of artists by AI companies, and rejects the idea that their work should be handed to AI companies without their permission. It's vitally important that the government listens to the public, and to the creative community and scraps its unfair proposals to weaken copyright law. It should represent the people, not big tech.”
Read Headliner's interview with Sophie Jones on the topic here.