Research
Music, Generative AI and Copyright
My research explores the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) on the music industries and the wider creative sector, with a particular focus on copyright, authorship, licensing, remuneration, and creators’ rights. My work sits at the intersection of law, music industry studies, and technology policy, and is concerned with how legal and industry frameworks can respond to technological change without undermining human creativity.
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PhD Research
I was awarded my PhD by the University of Liverpool in 2025. My doctoral thesis, Algorithmic Creativity: the legal and economic challenges of generative AI in the UK music industry, examined the impact of generative AI on the UK music industry and on music creators, with particular attention to the legal and economic frameworks governing copyright, authorship, licensing, and the future of creators’ rights.
The thesis explored how generative AI challenges existing understandings of creativity, originality, ownership, and value within music, while also raising urgent questions about licensing, transparency, remuneration, and the protection of human creators. It considered the implications of AI-generated music for copyright law, music industry structures, and the livelihoods of composers, songwriters, and performers, and examined whether current legal frameworks are capable of responding adequately to these developments.
More broadly, my doctoral work was driven by an interest in how emerging technologies are reshaping creative labour and cultural value, and in what kinds of legal and policy reform may be needed to support a fairer future for music creators.
Policy Research and the ISM
Alongside my academic research, I work extensively in policy and advocacy through my role as Senior AI Researcher and AI Policy Advisor at the Independent Society of Musicians (ISM). My work with the ISM focuses on the implications of generative AI for musicians and the wider creative industries, including direct engagement with policymakers and government departments such as the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
I am the author of Brave New World? Justice for Creators in the Age of GenAI, ISM’s groundbreaking cross-sector report on the impact of generative AI on the UK’s creative workforce. Drawing on findings from more than 10,000 UK creators, the report highlights the effects of job displacement and income loss across the creative industries, as well as the growing concerns surrounding digital replicas and data scraping. It also sets out the case for stronger protections for human creators and for a more transparent, accountable approach to AI development.
This strand of my work extends my academic research into practical policy debates, with a particular focus on copyright reform, transparency, consent, data mining, and the long-term protection of creators’ rights in an AI-driven creative economy.
MA Research
My earlier research was completed as part of my MA in Music Industry Studies at the University of Liverpool in 2020. This project focused on the use of augmented reality, and specifically holographic performance, within the live music industry.
That work explored how emerging technologies were beginning to reshape live performance, artist representation, and audience experience, and raised wider questions about authenticity, labour, and the role of technology in music. It was through this research that my interest in artificial intelligence, creativity, and copyright first began to develop, eventually leading to my doctoral research on generative AI and the music industries.