The Association of Korean Music Performers (chairman Lee Jung Hyun, hereinafter "EumSillyeon") said that beginning in April 2025 it will participate as a co-research institution in a national R&D project led by the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), "proposing institutional and technical solutions to protect performers' rights amid the spread of AI music."
This research is a four-year (2025–2028) new technology convergence copyright technology development project supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the specialized agency Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), and its main goal is "development of core technologies to verify copyright for AI-generated and deepfake music." EumSillyeon has teamed up with the Korea Copyright Commission (KCC), MarkAny, Odd Eye, and the industry-academic cooperation foundation of Korea University as the commissioned research and development institution to develop technologies to address unauthorized copyright use and rights infringements of AI and deepfake music.
Deepfake music refers to music generated using AI technology that alters an existing singer's voice or song melody to create music that sounds as if the original singer performed it. Representative cases include the IU version of BIBI's song "BamYangGaeng" and the Lim Jae-beom version of NewJeans' song "Hype Boy," which went viral on social media a few years ago.
Kim Seung-min, executive director and professional manager of EumSillyeon, said, "With the spread of AI technology, AI-generated music and deepfake recordings created without the consent of vocal performers are flooding the market, and issues of performers' voice rights and publicity rights infringement are emerging seriously," and said, "EumSillyeon is seeking ways for performers to protect their rights and generate revenue in environments where AI and deepfake technologies are applied."
In the first phase of research in 2025, EumSillyeon helped raise the credibility of technology development by building vocal feature databases (DBs) for identifying singers' recordings and performer vocal datasets. It established consent procedures for providing data needed for the development of AI and deepfake detection technologies for its members and created an environment where performers of various genres and ages could participate.
In addition, the organization strengthened legal and ethical reviews and consent procedures during the data collection process to put protection measures in place so that performers' voices are not used without authorization. During the subsequent research period, EumSillyeon plans to secure licenses necessary for AI technology development and to pursue technology demonstrations to increase the accuracy and completeness of music copyright verification technologies.
This research will develop rights information insertion technology based on audio watermarking and an automated deepfake music detection system to detect voice theft and unauthorized modification of performers' voices, and is expected to serve as a technical foundation for tracking rights information. It is expected to contribute to protecting performers' rights in the era of AI deepfake music and to building a transparent accounting and distribution system for performers who consent to the use of AI.
Last year's case that drew attention by recreating Jaurim's song "Twenty-five" in the style of the late Kim Kwang-seok using AI, and the recent release of the new song "RIIZE," which restored the late Kim Sung-jae of Deux using AI technology, are representative examples showing the impact of AI technology on the music industry. In particular, the tribute song produced by Lee Hyun-do in honor of the late Kim Sung-jae presents a new possibility for the use of neighboring rights in music and is meaningful.
Through this research, if AI voice models are built based on performers' data, it is expected that a model will be 마련되어 whereby performers can create new revenue in the legitimate creation and distribution of generative music. This is expected to be an important turning point in creating a fair and sustainable music ecosystem. EumSillyeon plans to continue actively participating in Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism research and development projects to protect the rights of music performers threatened in the rapidly changing AI era.
Park Geun-ik, head of the EumSillyeon project team in charge of this project, said, "Establishing the technical and institutional foundation to protect vocal performers' rights amid the indiscriminate spread of AI-generated recordings and deepfake cover songs is an urgent task that can no longer be delayed," and emphasized, "This technology development based on members' data will be the cornerstone for protecting performers' rights and building a fair music ecosystem in the AI era."
Meanwhile, EumSillyeon, founded in 1988, is a compensation-receiving organization designated by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism that collects and distributes neighboring rights royalties for performers across popular music, gugak, and classical genres. It has worked to promote performers' rights through public interest projects for undistributed compensation and various support programs, and has led efforts to create a stable creative environment by improving the no-entry-fee system and providing various welfare benefits. To respond quickly to technology changes caused by AI, it participated in the Ministry of Science and ICT's "AI training data construction project" in 2021, and the next-color guide vocal data built then with vocal performers has been made public on the national AI development support platform "AI Hub," contributing to the development of the nation's AI infrastructure.
[Photo] Provided by EumSillyeon
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