Tech Focus: AI & Production Music -Many Benefits for Broadcast Sports, but Uncertainty ContinuesLegal/copyright issues are major obstacle to AI's widespread on-air and in-venue useBy Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Wednesday, October 8, 2025 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Artificial intelligence is a divisive technology. For broadcast sports, particularly for music used on-air and in venues, it is both embraced and eyed suspiciously.
For instance, former Turner Sports VP Tom Sahara, SVP, production technology, Quintar, a spatial-experience developer, has cited AI's positives, including assisting audio teams by monitoring multiple audio parameters, such as signal levels and routing. However, he cautions about the technology's propensity for generating digital hallucinations.
Similarly, Karl Malone, senior director, audio engineering, NBC Sports and Olympics, is optimistic about AI's potential in automating routine tasks, such as some types of submixing, but with a caveat: as long as there is someone dedicated to the audio design of the production leading it and not using it as a set and forget,' because the forgetting' part is where we can run into problems.
Music, which plays a huge role in all sports, both on the air and on the field, is where much of the controversy is manifest - from creation to playback. And nowhere is it felt more than at the various companies that generate and/or license thousands of music tracks every year to teams, leagues, broadcasters, and streamers, providing the underscores and themes not only for games but for entire productions.
The Human TouchProduction-music companies - many of the largest count sports entities as major clients - are aware of the legal and social sensitivities around the topic.
As far as we can tell, says Ron Mendelsohn, CEO/executive producer, Megatrax, our clients still prefer music produced by humans rather than music generated by machines, especially when the legal rights and copyrights to that music are so questionable. Several clients have asked us to verify that our music is not AI-generated. It's highly problematic, he adds, that AI-generated music often bases training on copyrighted content.
Another issue is that AI-generated music itself is not entitled to copyright protection. In the U.S., works created entirely by artificial intelligence are not eligible for copyright protection because the U.S. Copyright Act requires human authorship. (Copyright duration is based on the author's lifespan, which courts and the Copyright Office have decided implies a requirement for human authorship.) Purely AI-generated music, therefore, can be refused copyright registration by the Copyright Office. On the other hand, AI-assisted music, for which a human provides significant creative input and control over the output, may be eligible for protection, at least on the copyrightable human-authored portions.
The ProblemCopyright owners have accused the AI sector of using their vast catalogs as uncompensated training grounds for AI music. According to international music-publishing trade association ICMP, some of the world's biggest technology companies - Google, Microsoft, Meta, OpenAI, X - have scraped copyright-protected music to train generative-AI systems. According to extensive evidence the association provided to Billboard, that has included songs by the Beatles, Mariah Carey, The Weeknd, Beyonc , Ed Sheeran, and Bob Dylan.
ICMP describes such unlicensed use of digital music as taking place on a global and highly extensive scale. It further asserts that the scope of the training is larger than previously acknowledged.
The problem is widespread across all media. It's also costly: artificial-intelligence company Anthropic has reportedly agreed to pay at least $1.5 billion to settle a copyright-infringement lawsuit over its use of pirated books to train large-language models (LLMs).
APM's Matthew Gutknecht: We will use [AI] to help people save time finding our music, but we will not be using it to create derivative works from existing copyrights.
APM Music - which represents catalogs for industry giants Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing Group and works with the MLB, NHL, and other sports entities - is understandably cautious on the topic. According to Matthew Gutknecht, VP, sports entertainment, APM, none of the content in the APM catalog is used for AI training.
(Both Sony Music and Universal Music Group, along with Warner Records, are suing AI-music generators Suno and Udio for copyright infringement, alleging that they used vast amounts of copyrighted music without authorization to train their AI models, which can then create similar works. Many in the industry would like to see a workable AI-licensing model emerge, but, as a recent article in Billboard points out, What would that even look like? given the legal complexity of the issue.)
We will use [AI] for audio identification to help people save time finding our music, Gutknecht emphasizes, but we will not be using it to create any kind of derivative works from existing copyrights.
The Bright Side
Stephen Arnold Music's Whitney Arnold: It can be a positive creative tool. We're firmly in the AI as a tool' camp at the moment.
Others, however, see potential benefits for AI-generated production music. Whitney Arnold, president, music services, Stephen Arnold Music, says it is definitely on our radar. We've found practical applications for AI-generated music as an ideation tool. He notes that a client recently sent the company AI-generated vocal treatments to aurally illustrate various moods and styles that the client might wish to pursue.
He concedes that, although AI-generated content can hit the right musical notes, it consistently falls short on
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
08/07/2026
Latest analogue-emulation plug-ins revealed
Universal Audio have just added two new analogue-emulation plug-ins to their DSP-powered UAD line-up. Developed ...
08/07/2026
Turn any audio loop into a playable kit
Pitch Innovations have recently introduced an interesting new tool that's capable of creating playable kits from...
08/07/2026
Adds new keyboard-split function
MonkeyC have recently launched an update that overhauls their powerful software sampler. Described as the sampler that mad...
08/07/2026
Four new delay algorithms & dual-engine functionality
Strymon have just announced that the much-anticipated MX version of their hugely popular delay pedal i...
08/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and China Mobile Research Institute jointly demonstrate generati...
08/07/2026
Film follows the courageous fight for justice by survivors of Ireland's Magdalene Laundries & Mother and Baby Homes
TESTIMONY airs Wednesday 22 July at 9...
07/07/2026
Applications are now open for the Validation Booster, a six-month acceleration programme supporting journalists, media organisations, content creators, media in...
07/07/2026
New mixer aimed squarely at instrument-level sources
Heritage Audio have clearly been busy recently, as alongside their all-new Tubestrip, they've also ...
07/07/2026
New channel strip combines popular hardware designs
The latest arrival to the Heritage Audio line-up brings together a selection of their praised hardware d...
07/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
07/07/2026
UKTV commission with BritBox and Sony Pictures Television and inspired by Deborah Cadbury's book, Chocolate Wars
The six-part series is produced by Fable P...
07/07/2026
Tuesday 7 July 2026
Record audiences tune into the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 on Sky Sports
The ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 was the most watche...
07/07/2026
Tuesday 7 July 2026
Official trailer released for Fightland, a revenge drama fr...
07/07/2026
Wuppertal July 7, 2026
Riedel and ARRI Bring Cinematic Live Production to the Eurovision Song ContestRiedel Communications and ARRI played a key role in one o...
07/07/2026
To Whom It Concerns RT today confirmed that Patrick Kielty is to extend his contract as host of The Late Late Show.
Last season, the world's longest-runn...
06/07/2026
Bundle gains 100 new synths & more
Synth Anthology 5 the largest and most feature-packed edition of UVI's hardware synth emulation bundle, bringing toge...
06/07/2026
Available now via free firmware update
MOTU have just announced that three of their popular audio interfaces now boast official Milan Certification. The 16A...
06/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Co...
06/07/2026
The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the ...
06/07/2026
Monday 6 July 2026
Sky Kids unveils new slate for 2026 including Paris Hilton&#...
06/07/2026
Monday 6 July 2026
Sky agrees to acquire ITV Media & Entertainment, creating a ...
06/07/2026
Fresh from his World Cup heroics with Cabo Verde, Roberto Pico' Lopes will join the RT panel for Argentina v Egypt tomorrow and for the England v Norway q...
06/07/2026
A death can be unsuspicious, but it has to be explained
What happened to Ke...
05/07/2026
Browser-based and desktop apps available
Digital Sunset Studios have been busy working on an interesting project: a free software tool that provides compute...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
** MEDIA ALERT **
BLEACH: THOUSAND-YEAR BLOOD WAR THE CALAMITY Continues I...
04/07/2026
** MEDIA ALERT **
VIZ Media Unveils New Anime Slate at Anime Expo 2026 with ...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
** MEDIA ALERT **
VIZ Media Celebrates Anime Expo 2026 with BLACK TORCH Worl...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Thursday 2 July 2026
Tea with Judi Dench returns to Sky Arts with legendary guest, Sir Ian McKellen
Sky today confirms Tea with Judi Dench will return this su...
01/07/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
01/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
01/07/2026
Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals
Sweetwater and Andertons M...
01/07/2026
Matt started engineering and mixing in studios. Twelve years later, a good friend, front of house engineer Shane Haase, took him out on tour as system engineer ...
01/07/2026
Our SD10T was an absolutely rock-solid, stable console and the Quantum 338T has been the perfect upgrade, Hurley says. Having multiple screens is a big advant...
01/07/2026
LEXINGTON, Kentucky - July 2026 -Tyler Childers' seventh and latest studio record, Snipe Hunter, is an adventurously sprawling collection of tunes that span...
01/07/2026
** MEDIA ALERT **
BLEACH Comes to Life in Los Angeles with First-of-Its-Kind...
Tech Focus: AI & Production Music -Many Benefits for Broadcast Sports, but Uncertainty ContinuesLegal/copyright issues are major obstacle to AI's widespread on-air and in-venue useBy Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
