Munich-based production music giant Sonoton Music has published a formal AI policy statement, reaffirming its commitment to human composers, musicians and producers across its catalogue and operations.
Sonoton Music, the world’s largest independent production music catalogue, has published a formal statement on its approach to AI, and it’s unambiguous. The Munich-based company has reiterated that human creativity will stay at the centre of everything they do.
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The statement acknowledges that useful AI tools exist, but draws a clear line between using technology to support creativity and replacing the people behind it. “Human creativity is at the core of Sonoton Music and we will continue to stand for human artistry over any quicker algorithm-informed alternative,” the company states. “We want to emphasise the word ‘alternative’ here, because as a creative company we have choices to make… We choose human creativity because we recognise the dedication it takes to hone the talent needed to make wonderful things from the head, heart and hands.”
Founded in Munich in 1965, Sonoton turns 61 this year and has spent six decades building a catalogue of more than 150,000 tracks by over 3,000 composers. Among them are legends like Horst Jankowski, Billy May, Franck Pourcel and Nelson Riddle. Its current roster includes six-time Grammy nominee Julia Michaels, who co-wrote Justin Bieber’s Sorry and Selena Gomez’s Lose You To Love Me, alongside British composer and multi-instrumentalist Daniel O’Sullivan, jazz pianist Greg Foat and German DJs and producers Dexter and DJ Friction.
On the side of TV, Sonoton’s tracks have featured in Mad Men, The Crown, Bridgerton, Game of Thrones and Stranger Things. On film, the catalogue spans Manchester By Sea, Oppenheimer, The Shape of Water and Spider-Man Across The Spider-Verse. Artists including Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Chance The Rapper and Pink Pantheress have sampled its recordings.
Sonoton add that its commitment extends beyond the music itself. Artwork, track descriptions and album concepts will also remain, in its words, “#humanmade” – a nod to the designers, photographers, illustrators and writers who have contributed to the catalogue since the 1960s.
“So, in this latest tech gold rush, our choice is to invest in talented people and take our time to create music that resonates with the visual creatives who use our music in their films and music lovers alike,” the statement reads.
With more than 35 agents licensing Sonoton’s music worldwide and over 100 new albums added to the catalogue every year, the company clearly has the infrastructure to back that commitment up.
