RIAA and NMPA Draft a Blueprint for the AI Paywall

The music industry’s heavy hitters—RIAA, NMPA, and SoundExchange—just filed an amicus brief in the Northern District of California, backing UMG and Concord in their war against AI firm Anthropic. The coalition is moving for a partial summary judgment to kill Anthropic’s "fair use" defense once and for all.

The brief leans on a staggering data point: 39% of all music delivered to Deezer daily is now synthetic content, with the platform receiving over 60,000 AI tracks every 24 hours. The industry’s argument is simple: AI isn't just "learning"; it’s a market substitute that’s flooding the pipes with unlicensed inventory. By citing a 97% failure rate for listeners trying to distinguish human from machine, the labels are framing AI training as an existential theft of market share.

Wooster Take: The labels aren't trying to stop AI; they’re trying to price it. By proving a "functioning licensing market" already exists, they’re positioning Anthropic’s refusal to pay as a choice rather than a necessity, effectively turning "fair use" into a bill for back-rent.