SoundExchange CEO Mike Huppe has joined SAG-AFTRA’s podcast to discuss how AI is complicating questions about control of recorded performances and compensation for artists. Published October 29, the episode pairs Huppe with SAG-AFTRA national executive director and CEO Duncan Crabtree-Ireland for a discussion spanning digital royalties and proposed legal protections.

The conversation connects AI’s potential to divert income from human performers with the broader challenge of ensuring artists participate financially when their recordings are used. It also addresses the proposed NO FAKES Act and American Music Fairness Act. The former concerns unauthorized digital replicas; the latter addresses compensation for recording artists and sound-recording owners from U.S. terrestrial radio.

These are related but distinct issues: replicating a performer’s identity, paying for broadcasts and allocating income from AI uses do not become one legal entitlement simply because they affect the same artist. The episode presents advocacy and explanation, rather than announcing a new AI royalty rate, a collective agreement or passage of either bill.