ARIA and ICMP Warn Against Australian AI Copyright Proposal

ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd said in October that if Big AI's proposal were done as proposed, it would devastate the music industry and make Australia a pariah for rights holders globally. In July, prime minister Anthony Albanese had given assurances that tech and AI companies couldn't use copyright-protected works including consent, credit and compensation.

On Oct. 13, Jo Briskey and Jono Duniam, co-chairs of the joint parliamentary committee for AI, suggested that Australia's existing copyright law wasn't up the scratch and that creators would miss out in the AI age without fresh changes. The International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP), led by director general John Phelan, is based in Brussels and represents 90% of the world's commercially released music.

John Phelan said the proposed mitigation mechanism placed under the prime minister's nose is an opt out system. ICMP said it showed the Australian government that all 10 of the prime minister's favorite songs were illegally used and that all 12 Australian orchestras had their work infringed.

Earlier in 2026, APRA AMCOS hosted the CISAC board of directors in Sydney, with AI at the top of the agenda. ElevenLabs is now valued north of $22 billion. Australia's summer recess begins at the end of November.