I want to train a model for a musician based on piano covers they have recorded of popular songs and therefore own, but because of copyright infringement they still pay royalties to the writers of these songs. Curious if this is legal or not – I would presume not since the recordings are not being monetized in this scenario but rather fed into a model, and the recordings are still owned 100% by the musician licensing them to me.
There are several things involved, copyright of the song by the composer, copyright of the particular performance by the performer, and mechanical reproduction rights of the recording. The musician may be able to grant you rights to the performance and recording, but not to the composition.
It may also depend on what you’re doing with the model. If you analyse the composition, and create new songs in the style of the composer, that’s more likely to infringe their copyright, than if you’re analysing the performance style of the musician, and creating renditions of other songs in the musician’s style. If you’re doing scientific research, it’s likely to enjoy a fair use exception. If you’re monetizing it, and it takes away income from the composer, then not. Even if you’re not monetizing it, there’s still a possibility to get a “cease and desist” order from the copyright holder if you don’t have a fair use exemption. It’s complex, and depends on the laws, court decisions, and international treaties. You won’t likely get a reliable explanation from Reddit armchair copyright experts, including me.
The legality of AI and music is still up in the air to some extent. We know from the Heart on my Sleeve track that it’s not just a fair-use free-for-all as some Redditors here suggest.