AI and Sacem: defining the future of music copyright – with David El Sayegh, Deputy CEO of ⁠Sacem⁠

Mar 10, 2026

David El Sayegh, Deputy CEO of Sacem who leads on copyright, licensing and regulatory affairs. He discusses how AI training and ingestion raise copyright challenges. He outlines Sacem’s push for licensing, transparency and reversed burdens of proof. He explores risks like deepfakes and discovery dilution, plus opportunities for creator tools, new revenue models and preserving human creativity.

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INSIGHT

Separating Training Rights From Generated Output

Collective management must tackle both training (input) and generated output rights as distinct legal issues.
SACEM exercised an opt-out to regain reproduction rights and open negotiations with AI providers over training datasets.

INSIGHT

EU Law Applies Where Services Target Europe

European law can be applied to non-European AI providers offering services in Europe, enabling rights enforcement.
Output protection depends on human creative input; AI as a tool can produce protectable works when a human's creative choices lead the result.

ADVICE

Demand Authorization And Transparency For Model Ingestion

Insist that AI services seek authorization when they ingest SACEM repertoire for training.
Push for transparency because ingestion is currently opaque, requiring rights holders to detect unauthorized use themselves.

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Ep. 177: Generative AI, copyright, and collection. Welcome to a special Music Ally Focus podcast series made in collaboration with Sacem, exploring the evolution of collective management in the modern music industry – looking at technology, policy, copyright and more.

In the first episode: Generative AI is no longer a future concept – it is a fundamental tool in today's creative process. But as the amount of AI-generated content increases, so do the complexities of music rights – and the number of questions that songwriters, artists and rightsholders have.

So we spoke to David El Sayegh, Deputy CEO of collecting society Sacem, to discuss how the organisation is defining the future of copyright. We explored Sacem’s strategic approach to the AI revolution, from building a shared understanding of policy to the practical technologies being tested in the Sacem Lab, to protect human creativity and ensure fair revenue exists in this new landscape.

And, we ask El Sayegh: if we are in the middle of a huge shift in AI-driven music creation and consumption, what are the revenue opportunities – and financial risks – for creators and CMOs stemming from this?

It's a broad and deep discussion from the top: he also discussed Sacem's official stance on AI training models, how they are protecting the notion of human creativity – and the new technologies being developed to ensure creators are fairly compensated in an AI-driven world.

Explore more: https://flyer.sacemenligne.fr/IA/EN/index.html

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Over the next three episodes, we continue to dive into how collective management is having to move with the times: exploring how one of the world’s leading CMOs is navigating a landscape redefined by artificial intelligence, global scaling, and the changing needs of modern creators.

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This is a Music Ally Co-Labs podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠musically.com/music-ally-co-labs⁠.

Co-Labs content is created by publishing partners in liaison with the Music Ally Editorial Team. We work closely with partners to ensure that it adheres to Music Ally's high expectations of quality, thoughtfulness, and usefulness.