Australian musicians demand Albanese protect their work from AI scraping

Australian musicians demanded from Albanese to protect their work from AI scraping

Australian musicians on July 3, 2026, demanded that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stop major technology companies seeking to weaken copyright in exchange for multi-billion-dollar investments in Australian infrastructure. In open appeals, performers asked the prime minister not to "kill music."

What Big Tech offered Australia

Major international technology corporations put forward an unusual deal to the Australian government: they commit to investing more than $50 billion in building data centers on the country's territory and create a compensation fund worth $350 million for creative figures. In exchange, the industry asks for copyright exemptions — the so-called text and data mining exemption. Essentially, this is permission to scan and use Australian music, books, and journalism on a mass scale without authors' consent to train AI models.

Key parameters of the proposal:

• Investments in Australian data centers — more than $50 billion
• Compensation fund for authors — $350 million
• Music, books, news publications fall under scraping
• Senator David Pocock called the deal "absolutely filthy"
• In June 2026, it became known: some works by Australian musicians were already scraped without their knowledge

The Albanese government officially stated that it does not intend to weaken copyright — and rejected the very idea of text and data mining exemption as far back as last year. However, pressure from Big Tech does not cease, and the creative community seriously fears that the situation could change.

Why musicians appealed specifically to Albanese

Anthony Albanese has long been known for his passion for Australian rock and pop music. This makes him symbolically important as an addressee for musicians seeking protection. The Guardian Australia reached out to several of the prime minister's favorite bands and asked them to share their thoughts on the situation — each of them sent Albanese a personal message asking him not to "kill music."

The situation became particularly acute with the revelations of June 2026: it turned out that some works by famous Australian performers — including Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue — were already being used as training data for AI systems without any permission from the authors and without any compensation.

"Don't kill music" — that's how, briefly and directly, several famous

Australian performers formulated their appeal to the prime minister.

The position of authors turns out to be almost hopeless: they are offered either to agree with the legalization of scraping in exchange for a small portion of the fund, or to watch their works continue to be used de facto — without any compensation at all.

What this means

Australia is becoming one of the key fronts in the global conflict between the AI industry and the creative community. The scheme of "large investments in exchange for weakened copyright" has already been tested by Big Tech in other jurisdictions. If Australia agrees to this deal, a precedent could launch a chain of similar agreements throughout the world — and then musicians, writers, and journalists in other countries would face the same harsh choice: accept the terms or lose.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is text and data mining exemption?

This is a norm in copyright law that allows automatic copying and analysis of protected works without the consent of rights holders and without payment — primarily for training AI models. Australia currently has no such exemption, and it is precisely what technology companies are seeking as part of the proposed deal.

Will

Australian musicians receive money from the $350 million fund?

The fund is part of the offer from the Tech industry, which will be created only if the exemption for text and data mining is accepted. Until the Australian government rejects the entire deal, the fund does not exist and no payments to authors are provided.