Improving music metadata: towards a central repository of creative industry, online platform and AI data resources

With the work notification mechanism in Article 17(4)(b) and the opt-out mechanism in Article 4(3) of the 2019 Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, EU copyright legislation seeks to strengthen the position of composers, performers, record labels and music publishers vis-à-vis online platforms and AI developers. From the perspective of copyright data governance, however, these provisions may have unintended side effects. Instead of strengthening the position of artists and music companies, they set in motion metadata streams from the music industry to providers of online platforms and AI developers. Ultimately, these metadata fortify the data hegemony of large technology companies. They may increase the dependence of artists and music companies on big tech platforms and AI systems for the distribution of content. To counterbalance the data hegemony of platforms and AI providers, it is advisable to establish a comprehensive EU music metadata infrastructure: a central, open data repository that bundles Article 17(4)(b) work notifications and Article 4(3) opt-out statements which are enriched with descriptive and rights clearance metadata. Once these work notifications and opt-out declarations are in parallel collected and pooled in a central EU music metadata repository, the resulting accumulation of music data can lead to a promising data reservoir capable of competing with the data collections held by online platforms and AI trainers.