Artificial intelligence could reduce up to 28 % the income from musical rights in Spain by the year 2028. This is stated by a study promoted by the General Society of Authors and Editors (SGAE) that indicates that, if its expansion follows as until now, the AI would mean a loss of around 100 million euros only that year, and an accumulated between 160 and 180 million in the period 2025-2028.
“IA technologies are substantially modifying the way in which composers, performers and producers are related to creative, interpretive and productive processes. This phenomenon raises deep questions about authorship, intellectual property, value distribution and sustainability of the musical ecosystem,” says the report, prepared by Know Media with the Carlos III University.
The study, obtained from a sample of 1,257 creators and entitled The economic and social impact of artificial intelligence on musical creation and its effects in other areas of culturepoints out the extended use of these technological tools among the creators: 34% of the people surveyed have already used AI tools at some point, and an additional 17% express their intention to do so soon. The study also points out that the general feeling of the author’s collective before this technology “is a combination of uncertainty and concern for revenue reduction and possible irresponsible or abusive use of AI.” That uncertainty, explains the study, is expressed in two ways: on the one hand, fear of staying out of the market for the reduction of costs with AI (36% of the creators surveyed). And on the other, concern for the progressive replacement of human activity by the machine (26%).
The Radiography study the uses of AI in the field of Spanish music, which is basically limited to three areas: composition, production and musical promotion. He also points out that the most used tools are text and letters generation systems (such as chatgpt), software of musical composition such as Suno or Bandlab, creative image editors such as Dall · e or Spotify ai and sound mixing and automation solutions such as Land or Neutron.
“The dependence of the learning systems of AI to the protected works of the community of creators generates intense legal, but also ethical debates, on the future sources of the culture of our society,” the report warns.
Solutions to a global phenomenon
This pattern is not exclusive to the Spanish field. A 2025 report by International Music Summit (IMS) said that 60 million people, among which are independent creators from all over the world, used tools based on AI in composition or editing tasks. Globally, according to Market.us, the largest market for musical the musical will grow from about 3.9 billion dollars in 2023 to 38.7 billion by 2033.
The ethical debate of this technology is also put on the table in the study, since the creative capacity of the tools of AI depends on previous works that the machine sucks to make patterns. “The success of the algorithms is subject to the copy and decomposition of the previous works, acts that are subject to the authorization of their authors,” recalls the report. “However, billionaire investments involved in the development of new algorithms, which predict a new panacea of services and solutions, force to ignore the traditional rules that affect copyright.”
Finally, the study identifies three key recommendations for the use of AI in the future: maintain continuous surveillance about the expansion of AI in the creative areas of the musical sector, establish normative mechanisms that allow distinguishing between music generated with technological assistance and autonomous artificial music and advancing in the definition of a protective legislative framework, which guarantees the survival of an inviolable space for human creation against automation. Solutions for, as the report ends, “a growing structural threat that requires an urgent sectoral and regulatory response.”