Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has begun to reshape the music industry in ways that are difficult to ignore. Today’s models can produce songs that replicate not only the structure of existing works but also the stylistic and expressive qualities associated with particular artists. These systems are not experimental tools operating at the margins. They are developed and deployed by commercial AI companies, such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind, seeking to monetize generative outputs at scale. Unsurprisingly, copyright holders, especially record labels, have responded with litigation, arguing that the use of copyrighted sound recordings and lyrics in model training constitutes unlawful appropriation. At bottom, these disputes force courts to confront a familiar question in an unfamiliar context: how should the economic consequences of AI training be evaluated under the fair use doctrine?

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