The American Federation of Musicians, the main US union for professional players, has started a public campaign called Human Made Human Paid. It wants any use of human-made art in AI development to come with the creator's consent, a proper credit and fair pay. The push is tied to the union's negotiations with the major record labels over a new Sound Recording Labor Agreement, where AI protections have become the sticking point.
Four bargaining rounds have taken place so far, and the talks are described as ongoing but stalled over AI. The union lists three demands: musicians must be able to allow or refuse the use of their recordings for AI training, their performances must be credited transparently, and they must be paid when their work produces value inside AI systems or in licensing deals. It also wants contract language that stops labels from using AI to undercut or replace working musicians.
“if art is human-made, the creator must receive fair compensation, proper credit and explicit consent before their work can be used or automated”
American Federation of Musicians, campaign website, on the campaign website · completemusicupdate.com ↗
The campaign has its own website, and the union says it will press the case at the bargaining table, in court and across the wider industry, drawing in supporters beyond its own members. The agreement matters especially to US session musicians, whose past performances are being used to train models that could mean less work for them later.
The AFM's complaint is one of double standards. It says the labels warn publicly that AI music could displace human artists, while licensing their catalogues to AI companies for large sums and passing nothing to the players who made the recordings. The labels, for their part, argue that the agreement's clause on new uses of recordings does not reach AI deals, a position the union says rests on legal technicalities.
That clause is already the subject of legal action: the union has sued Universal Music and Warner Music over how the existing agreement treats the majors' AI deals.
About American Federation of Musicians
The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, known as the AFM, is a labor union for professional musicians in both countries, based in New York City and affiliated with the AFL-CIO. It counted 66,672 members in 2023.
The union dates to 1896, when delegates broke away from the National League of Musicians to form a more egalitarian body. The campaign is not its first move against the majors over AI: in early June 2026, Resident Advisor reported, it sued Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, alleging they had failed to compensate musicians after settlement and licensing agreements with the AI music firms Suno and Udio.
The reporting places the campaign in a wider split. Music creators broadly agree that AI firms must secure licences, but since labels and publishers began announcing AI deals, artists and songwriters have pressed them for explicit consent and clarity on how the money is shared. There is no industry consensus. For featured artists, control depends on their individual label contracts, and for songwriters on publishing contracts and collecting societies. Session musicians have the least to lean on: absent copyright reform or union-negotiated deals, their share of AI income could be nothing, which is why the AFM is fighting for it in the contract talks.
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