SoundExchange announced an AI registry that has yet to launch

The system

A rights owner who wants to tell every AI company at once not to train on a recording currently has to contact each company separately. SoundExchange, the nonprofit that administers the U.S. statutory digital performance royalty for sound recordings and maintains the industry's largest sanctioned ISRC database, announced in a press release dated 20 September 2024 that it was developing a 'global artificial intelligence (AI) registry for sound recording creators and rights owners.' President and CEO Michael Huppe made the announcement at the Fast Company Innovation Festival, alongside producer Timbaland, describing a registry rights owners could use to reserve their recordings against AI training.

What the documents establish

SoundExchange's own release states what the registry is meant to do and what it is not: a voluntary tool built on SoundExchange's existing ISRC database, letting rights owners declare authorization preferences that 'companies building AI training models will be able to reference … before ingesting recordings.' The release is explicit that U.S. law does not require such a reservation, that rights owners keep all legal rights regardless of listing, and that individual reservations with specific AI companies remain available alongside the registry. The release set an expected launch in the first quarter of 2025. SoundExchange's advocacy page, reflecting the document as retrieved on 16 September 2026, tracks several AI-related bills, including the TRAIN Act and the NO FAKES Act, but neither that page nor any other SoundExchange material found for this report confirms that the AI registry itself has launched, been renamed, or been withdrawn since the September 2024 announcement.

Craft and rights

For an artist or label, the appeal of a centralized registry is scale: one declaration instead of dozens of individual notices to AI companies, each with its own process. What remains uncertain, on SoundExchange's own public record as of this report, is whether that convenience actually exists yet as a working product a rights owner can use today. This is an editorial caution: a registry SoundExchange describes as voluntary and non-binding under current law would not, even if launched, replace the practical need for artists to check their existing contracts and platform terms for AI-training language.

Outcomes and open questions

The stated first-quarter-2025 launch window has passed without a confirmed public update from SoundExchange's own newsroom or advocacy pages as retrieved for this report. Whether the registry launched quietly, was delayed, or was absorbed into another SoundExchange product is not established by the materials available here.

• Has SoundExchange published any update on the registry's status since September 2024 that this report may have missed?
• If the registry exists, does listing a recording there change any of your existing license terms with AI developers?
• What alternative documentation would you rely on today to show an AI company was on notice of a reservation?

An announced tool is not the same as an operating one, and this entry records only what SoundExchange's own materials confirm as of the September 2024 announcement, not a claim that the registry is live.