In February, more than 1,000 artists – including Kate Bush, Annie Lennox of Eurythmics, and Damon Albarn of Blur and The Gorillaz – released a “silent album” in protest against the UK government’s proposed changes to copyright law.
Now the album is being released on vinyl, with a bonus track – a recording of an empty studio – from Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney.
The LP will be available from December 8, with all profits from sales of the album donated to the charity, Help Musicians.
The bonus track marks McCartney’s latest UK copyright law-related protest. In May, over 400 artists, including McCartney, Sir Elton John and Dua Lipa, Coldplay, and Shirley Bassey, among others, signed a letter to UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urging his government to mandate transparency in the training of AI, and to create a licensing marketplace for AI developers and copyright holders.
February’s release of the silent album protesting the UK government’s planned changes to copyright law took aim at a proposal that would make it easier to train AI models on copyrighted work without a license.
The album, titled Is This What We Want?, featured recordings of empty studios and performance spaces, which organizers say were aimed to represent the impact on artists’ and music professionals’ livelihoods “if the government does not change course”.
The digital release in February 2025 reached No.38 in the UK album chart. The vinyl is being released by The state51 Conspiracy.
According to the press release announcing the new vinyl version of the album, under the proposals, UK copyright law “would be upended to benefit global tech giants”.
As reported in February, the government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer had proposed a plan designed to make the UK competitive in the race to develop artificial intelligence. Based on a 50-point AI Opportunities Action Plan delivered to Parliament in January, the consultation proposed – among other things – creating an “opt-out” system for using copyrighted material to train AI.
However, facing major backlash from the creative sector, the government has said this proposal is no longer its preferred option and it continues to review its approach.
Monday’s press release added that under the proposal, “AI companies would be free to use an artist’s work to train their AI models without permission or remuneration. The government’s proposed changes would require artists to proactively ‘opt-out’ from the theft of their work – reversing the very principle of copyright law”.
It added: “‘Opt-out’ models are near impossible to enforce, have yet to be proven effective anywhere else in the world, and place enormous burdens on artists, particularly emerging talent.”
“The government must commit to not handing the life’s work of the country’s musicians to AI companies for free.”
Ed Newton-Rex
Ed Newton-Rex, the organizer of the album, said: “The government must commit to not handing the life’s work of the country’s musicians to AI companies for free.
“Doing so would be hugely damaging to our world-leading creative industries, and is totally unnecessary, only benefiting overseas tech giants. It should listen to Paul McCartney and the 1,000 other musicians who took part in this album, and resist calls to legalise music theft from the big tech lobby.”
“When tech companies lobby governments to give them songs for free, it’s not so they can cure diseases, feed the hungry, or provide clean water where it is needed.”
Paul Sanders, The state51 Conspiracy
Paul Sanders, founder of The state51 Conspiracy, added: “When tech companies lobby governments to give them songs for free, it’s not so they can cure diseases, feed the hungry, or provide clean water where it is needed.
“It’s simply so they can make millions of fake songs and keep all the profits for themselves. As a company with a lifelong commitment to musicians The state51 Conspiracy was honoured to be asked to help get this message out on vinyl. All profits go to Help Musicians, which is what our politicians should be doing instead of sucking up to tech bros.”Music Business Worldwide
