Overview
- McCartney’s almost soundless recording marks his first new release in five years and will appear as a bonus track on the vinyl edition due December 8, with profits going to Help Musicians.
- The compilation, titled Is This What We Want?, consists of largely silent studio recordings that dramatise fears of a silenced music ecosystem if tech firms train AI on artists’ work.
- The track listing spells out the message that the British government must not legalise music theft to benefit AI companies.
- More than 1,000 artists, including Kate Bush, Annie Lennox and Damon Albarn, have contributed to the project as part of broader campaigning on AI policy.
- Ministers are consulting on a text-and-data-mining exception that could require rights holders to opt out, while saying they will protect creators even as they pursue partnerships with OpenAI, Google and Anthropic.