Musicians ‘Stealing Isn’t Innovation’ Campaign Launches
The battle lines between the creative community and unregulated AI development are being drawn more clearly than ever. The Human Artistry Campaign (HAC), a global coalition of 180 organizations, doubled down on its mission with the launch of the Musicians Stealing Isn’t Innovation campaign. This initiative was signed by a long list of major musicians, creators, and actors.
Musicians launch Stealing Isn’t Innovation Campaign
The message of the new Stealing Isn’t Innovation campaign is blunt: Using copyrighted musical works to train AI models without authorization or compensation isn’t “disruption.” It’s theft.
The Core Argument
As AI companies continue to scrape the web for data to power their generative models, the Hum
an Artistry Campaign (HAC) is pushing back against the narrative that this is a necessary part of technological progress. However, the campaign emphasizes that a “better way exists” through ethical licensing deals and partnerships.
Framing the issue as partnership vs. piracy, the campaign highlights that innovation and creators’ rights are not mutually exclusive. The goal is to move the industry toward an ecosystem where human creativity is the foundation of AI. In other words, the campaign wants human creativity to be the basis, not its fuel.
Major Musicians Sound the Alarm
The campaign has garnered massive support from a “who’s who” of the music industry. The list of creator signees features hundreds of artists across every genre. This proves that the concern over AI is a rare point of total industry unity.
Major signatories include:
- R.E.M. (Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry)
- Questlove and The Roots
- Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins)
- Bonnie Raitt
- Chaka Khan
- Cyndi Lauper
- Common
- Jason Aldean and Jason Isbell
- Ryan Tedder (OneRepublic)
- MGMT
- Rob Thomas
- Martina McBride
Other high-profile signees from the broader creative world include actors like Scarlett Johansson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as well as numerous award-winning authors and songwriters.
Legislative Momentum: The NO FAKES Act
The “Stealing Isn’t Innovation” campaign is arriving alongside significant legislative movement. The Human Artistry Campaign is a primary supporter of the NO FAKES Act. That is a bipartisan bill recently reintroduced in the U.S. Senate and House.
This legislation would create a federal intellectual property right to an individual’s voice and likeness. It would provide a powerful legal weapon against the flood of AI-generated deepfakes and unauthorized voice clones currently hitting the market. Martina McBride recently brought the artist’s perspective to Capitol Hill. She testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the urgent need for these protections.
The Hypebot Take
For labels, managers, and independent artists, this campaign represents a critical shift from passive concern to organized resistance.
The success of the Stealing Isn’t Innovation Campaign and others like it in securing both public support and federal protection will likely determine the economic value of “human” music for decades to come.
To see the full list of signees or join the Musicians Stealing Isn’t Innovation Campaign visit StealingIsntInnovation.com.
Bruce Houghton is Founder & Editor of Hypebot. He is also Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, a Berklee College Of Music professor and founder of Skyline Artists.
