The current wave of artificial intelligence (AI) technology has been a cause for concern to economic sectors, including the local music industry.
There have been a mushrooming of videos of Al using "artificial" vocals similar to famous singers singing songs belonging to other artistes on YouTube as a form of entertainment.
A local example features the Al-generated vocals of Dayang Nurfaizah singing along to the music of a few songs by Datuk Seri Siti Nurhaliza, which include 'Bicara Manis Menghiris Kalbu' and 'Kurniaan Dalam Samaran'.
This has raised concerns about how new developments in AI technology could impact the quality and value of artistic works.
Recording Industry Association of Malaysia chairman Rosmin Hashim said they would propose to the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry and the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry to enact laws to protect local copyright and regulate the development of AI technology in Malaysia.
"For the music industry worldwide and locally, the generation of music using AI models is a threat to industry players.
"Some recording companies are lobbying the government to make amendments to control the development of AI.
"In Europe, there is a new act, the AI Act, that protects music industry players. This act requires AI developers to obtain permission from the copyright holder or owner to train AI models.
"It becomes an issue when the AI models release or generate new songs without the permission of the owner or copyright holder.
"So, through the act, AI models cannot generate income through the production of songs where permission is not obtained first from the copyright holder.
"In Malaysia, we will ask the government to enact a new law to control the generation of music from AI models," he said in a recent news report.
Rosmin added that the newly enacted AI Act in Europe required users to label music created by AI models.
"Because, in the future, we won't know, and this could confuse the public. For example, which songs are created by humans and which songs are produced by AI. So, there needs to be labelling.
"There is another new act enacted in the United States — the Elvis Act — that provides protection to each individual's unique voice and likeness against unauthorised AI.
"This step is to protect the singer's voice. This means, it cannot be used without permission.
"As we can see, Dayang Nurfaizah's voice sings Siti's song. If it is said to be out on YouTube, it means that there is income generation for the party that uploaded the content.
"The production of the song did not get the permission of the song owner, be it the creator, the lyricist, the recording company or the publishing company." Rosmin added that this was a threat to music industry activists following the generation of music through AI models that did not involve songwriters, lyricists, singers, recording companies and publishing companies.
"So, if it is not curbed and controlled, all the artistes involved will be affected."
Rosmin said recording company, Sony Music Entertainment, had sent a letter to all AI generation companies to inform them that the company did not allow the use of recordings to be used in training AI models.
"This international recording company has distributed letters to more than 700 companies that dabble in generative AI development.
"Sony Music Entertainment has made it clear that none of its recordings can be used for that purpose. Many of these generative AI companies used music without obtaining the permission of the copyright owner.
"So, if there is use of recordings from Sony Music Entertainment, they may take legal action against the generative AI company involved," he said.
Following this, the Communications Ministry is reviewing the possibility of collaborating with other agencies to examine music activists' concerns about this matter.
Its minister, Fahmi Fadzil, said at the ministerial level, especially under the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, they had been looking into several matters related to AI.
However, he said, it was still early to comment on the findings or decisions.
"We know that the Digital Ministry and the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry are also looking into AI issues.
"To date, the Music Authors' Copyright Protection and other royalty collection bodies have not raised this case at the ministerial level.
"Maybe we will take a more proactive step by inviting them to chat so that we can provide initial feedback, including to the Digital Ministry and the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry."