Next chapter in the AI ​​training data debate, and this time it's about LANDR. You may know it from mastering or sales - the platform has been in the AI ​​music business for over ten years and, according to its own information, is used by over six million musicians worldwide. Now they have their “Fair Trade AI Program” drilled again, and I want to explain to you, what's really behind it.

How the whole thing works

Basic idea: Anyone who sells their music via LANDR, can register for the Fair Trade AI program and share its published tracks for training AI models. The important thing – and LANDR itself emphasizes this again and again – is the opt-in principle. You have to actively register, submit your own music, and only who owns the full recording and publishing rights, is allowed to participate at all. LANDR reserves the additional right, which tracks are actually included in the data set at the end.

There is money for participation. Originally the share was 20 percent of revenue, which are achieved by the AI ​​tools trained with your own music, paid out as a monthly billing via your own account. Now, as part of the current expansion, the proportion even increased 25 Percent of net license income increased, distributed according to the respective contribution to the data set.

The new: Advance and larger data set

What makes this round special: LANDR has launched a $1 million fund for advances to artists. Specifically, that means who takes part, can receive repayable advances on future license revenue, and round 5 US dollars per eligible track. The offer ran until 20. July, So it just recently expired or. ran parallel to the announcement. Over 30.000 According to LANDR, artists and several hundred thousand released tracks are now supposed to be part of the program - so the whole thing has developed from a niche idea into a real licensing platform, the AI ​​developers with legally secured, cleanly tagged music data.

The first payouts from the program are scheduled to go out to participating artists this month. LANDR also promises, that the data is never sold to third parties and that participants receive regular updates about the training process. You can unsubscribe at any time - unless you have accepted an advance payment, then your own music remains in the data record, until the advance has been paid or 24 Months have passed, whichever comes first.

My assessment

Honestly: Compared to that, What AI training data has simply been pulled from the internet in recent years without being asked and unpaid, This is actually a different caliber. Opt-in statt Opt-out, real rights check before inclusion in the data set, and money, that comes into the account every month instead of nothing at all - that's more, than most big AI juggernauts have even considered.

But – and I remain skeptical – in the end there are still things left 75 percent of revenue at LANDR itself. The artists, their melodies, Rhythms and timbres serve as training material, get a quarter of the cake, while the platform uses the AI ​​tools developed from it to resell and build its own business. Five dollars advance per track doesn't sound like much at first, if you consider, how much work, There is time and passion in a track like this.

And something else catches my eye: If you accept the advance, you sit 24 Fixed in the data set for months, whether you want to or not. This is not a “get out at any time”, That's a bond. For musicians, who need a small financial injection in the short term, That may sound tempting - but if you don't look closely, ultimately sells more control over his work, than he realizes.

Still – compared to all the streaming platforms and labels, who simply have our catalogs scraped, without even asking, An opt-in model with payment is a step forward. The only question is, ob 25 percent and a few dollars advance really “fair” are, or whether that's just the new one, friendlier packaged deal, in which the musicians still get the smaller share in the end.

I'm not taking part in FLEX BARKER MUSIC RECORDS for now. My catalogs remain my capital, and before I send them to AI training for a fiver per track, I'd better think twice about it. But I also understand, why this can be attractive to other independent artists, especially when no one else asks and no one pays.

What do you think – opportunity or sell-out through the back door? Write it to me.