AI Firms Accused of Profiting Millions from Unauthorized Music Use
Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, former CEO of U.K. Music, highlights concerns that AI companies are generating millions in revenue from music acquired without permission. This commentary follows his early 2023 warnings about unchecked AI use.
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Sep 30, 2026 7:00am PT
AI Companies Are Raising Millions From Music They Took Without Permission (Guest Post)
By Jamie Njoku-Goodwin
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Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, OBE, previously served as CEO of U.K. Music and Director of Strategy to the U.K. Prime Minister at No. 10 Downing Street. Variety welcomes responsible commentary, please direct inquiries to music@variety.com.
In early 2023, I warned that failing to robustly enforce copyright could result in an epidemic of “music laundering.” As the then-Chief Executive of U.K. Music, the collective voice of the British music sector, I was fighting for the interests of creators, record labels, venues and music companies alike. Without proper guardrails, I argued, advances in artificial intelligence would enable technology companies to take people’s music without permission, use it to train their models, then generate clean, seemingly new content with its origins hidden.
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_Originally reported by [Variety Music](https://variety.com/2026/music/opinion/ai-companies-raising-millions-from-music-without-permission-1236878697/)._
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