Author: Adam Gorecki

I’m not sure if I’d ever anticipate hearing a collaborative album between Damon Alburn, Kate Bush, Hans Zimmer and over 1,000 other UK artists within our lifetime. However, this piece of work doesn’t combine the supposed ingenious concepts, belting female vocals and hard-hitting film scores that you’d seem to expect on such an obscure collaboration. This is mostly because the project is 12 tracks of white noise from empty studios. You could easily mistake this body of work for a meditative mixtape found in the corner of a yoga class, however, you’d be wrong. The Album is called ‘Is This What We Want?’ and was released on the 25^th of February 2025 as a protest towards the British government’s policies on AI companies using copyrighted work to train their algorithms without a license. In other words, AI developers will be able to use artist’s work without their permission and use it to recreate content with a means to earn profit from it. The softening of these policies would allow AI corporations free and easy access to this content, however, there will be an option for artists to ‘opt out’ if they so please. This factor would require artists to have to verbally state their lack of consent towards every individual AI company in order for this option to be fully effective. A staggering statistic from the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers stated that music industry workers could lose up to 24% of their revenue by 2028 unless the Government implement protections against AI.

The empty sounds that linger across the project represent the supposed desolate dystopia of the music industry if the government continues down this path. Furthermore, the track list spells out the statement ‘The British government must not legalise music theft to benefit AI companies’ and all profits will go towards the charity, Help Musicians.

The band of artists hope that this strategy will promote awareness towards the issue at hand; I question whether this was the most effective way of achieving this. Although the album’s title carefully questions whether we want to live in a world where AI has sucked the financial soul from the creative industry, I can’t see the majority of people finding access to the work as well as fully understanding the message behind it. To find the project, you’ll have to type in ‘1000 UK artists’ on streaming services, as opposed to finding the album on any of the artists’ individual pages. The intent behind the project isn’t clear for those who don’t have a widened context on the issue. Even the title’s rhetorical question is incredibly vague and open to interpretation which doesn’t encourage the listener to dive deeper into the issues behind AI within the music industry. The movement appears as rushed, hasty and not as thought-provoking as it could’ve been.

I’m not particularly educated on the world of AI, but when I take a few steps back and take a glance at the way the world is going, I see the act of creative authenticity being under a great threat from all angles. Although I don’t encourage the idea of being constantly sceptical of new technology, AI offering content that is sourced via algorithms and not the spontaneous spark of a human mind is an impending catastrophe that should be addressed before it is capable of getting out of hand. As we’re taught in schools from a young age, the human brain is a muscle which must be trained and worked constantly in order to develop, grow and maintain itself. Different strains of this muscle vary in their ability to calculate, strategize, translate and most importantly, create. AI serves the potential purpose of ridding the human brain of having to function in this way, moreover, we will see those who healthily exercise their creative outlet being punished and financially persecuted for doing so.

The government has attempted to blur the lines of possession and stealing which have been so clear and visible for so many years. Although I don’t believe that this project is an entirely efficient attempt to bring awareness to the issue, I’m certainly happy to see such an immediate and unified response from a series of high-profile artists. It would be nice to see a future where we can more openly discuss and expose the criminality behind ignoring copyright laws and to see artists reaping what they sow in the work that they produce.

Adam is a London-based writer, maker, and photographer with a broad love for anything that catches his curiosity, particularly music. Graduating with a Level 4 Diploma in Copywriting from The College of Media and Publishing, he sees music as a complex social study and is fascinated by how brilliant ideas can be brought to life. He has a critical eye for great storytelling and thrives in exploring the philosophical side behind an artist’s intentions and what can ignite a spark that lasts for generations.