ABBA co-founder and CISAC President Björn Ulvaeus is challenging the music industry’s current approach to artificial intelligence licensing, arguing that rights holders must be paid for the data used to train models rather than for every individual AI-generated output. Delivering the keynote at the UN’s AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva on July 8, 2026, Ulvaeus warned that focusing on tracing outputs misunderstands how generative models function and threatens the economic viability of human creators.
The Right Question Is Training, Not Output
Ulvaeus explicitly rejected the industry’s tendency to attempt to measure the value of every individual AI-generated song. He stated that AI outputs are not copies of specific works but new syntheses built from the entire dataset a model has learned. “For me, tracing the output was always the wrong question,” Ulvaeus said. “The right question is much simpler. It is about the training. Our works went in. We should be paid for what went in, not for every output that comes out the other end, but for the raw material that made the machine what it is”.
This distinction is critical for publishers and labels negotiating with tech firms. Ulvaeus noted that music models have been trained on a century of human songs, including his own, often ingested without agreed permission, payment, or acknowledgment. He contrasted this with the ABBA Voyage project, where digital avatars perform based on a clear contract and consent, calling it “AI done right”.
A Streaming Model for AI Revenue
To solve the compensation gap, Ulvaeus proposed adopting the collective licensing framework that already supports streaming platforms. He argued that AI should work the same way Spotify does: a percentage of the platform’s subscription revenue should flow back collectively to rights holders whose work trained the systems. “A share of AI subscription revenues could flow back to the creators whose work trained these systems,” he posited, noting that the infrastructure and principle already exist.
The barrier, according to Ulvaeus, is not technical but political. He stated that what is missing is the will to require this model for everyone, not just those powerful enough to sue. He emphasized that if human creators cannot earn a living, the well of original creativity will run dry, leaving AI with nothing new to learn.
Ulvaeus concluded by framing the relationship between tech companies and creators as a partnership. “You have built remarkable things. You could not have built them without us,” he told the summit attendees. “That makes us partners. We deserve a place at the table. We deserve a share of the harvest”. He warned that the industry faces a fork in the road regarding upcoming fair-use rulings involving Suno, noting that if Suno wins, every licensing deal in the AI music space could collapse.
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