More than 1,000 artists and musicians including Kate Bush, Damon Albarn, Sam Fender and Annie Lennox have recorded a silent album in protest at proposed changes to copyright law, which they say could lead to artists being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI).

Is This What We Want? also involves artists including Billy Ocean, Tom Grennan, New Order, Simon Le Bon, Tori Amos, Pet Shop Boys, The Clash, Bashy, Jamiroquai and Imogen Heap – along with a range of composers, conductors and organisations such as Hans Zimmer, and the Royal Albert Hall and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

It features recordings of empty studios and performance spaces – which artists say could become a reality for musicians in the UK if the changes go ahead.

The track listing spells out the message: “The British government must not legalise music theft to benefit AI companies.”

Under the government’s plans, an exemption to copyright would be created for training AI, so tech firms would not need a licence to use copyrighted material – and creators would need to opt out to prevent their work from being used.

A consultation on the issue closes today.

Sir Elton John and Simon Cowell have also backed a campaign opposing the proposals, and Sir Paul McCartney has spoken out against them.

The new plans fail to reimburse artists for AI recreating and copying their work, stifle creativity, and the proposed opt-out scheme places an unnecessary burden on artists, critics say.

All profits from the silent album will be donated to the musicians’ charity, Help Musicians.

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‘Throwing creative industries under the bus’

Campaigner Ed Newton-Rex, who organised the album, said: “The government’s proposal would hand the life’s work of the country’s musicians to AI companies, for free, letting those companies exploit musicians’ work to outcompete them.

“It is a plan that would not only be disastrous for musicians, but that is totally unnecessary. The UK can be leaders in AI without throwing our world-leading creative industries under the bus.

“This album shows that, however the government tries to justify it, musicians themselves are united in their thorough condemnation of this ill-thought-through plan.”

The creative industries have been vocal in their opposition to how powerful AI models such as ChatGPT can be used to generate fresh content on demand, imitating what already exists.

Concerns around their use by film and TV studios to write scripts or even replace actors were a key driver of the Hollywood strikes in 2023, while music labels have sought to prevent pop stars’ vocals from being freely cloned and photographers have spoken out against online art generators.

In 2023, UK music contributed £7.6bn to the UK economy, with exports of UK music reaching £4.6bn.

While some AI firms have started making deals to license content, many existing models have been trained using data from the public internet, including from news and other publishing websites.

Dan Conway, chief executive of the Publishers Association, the trade organisation representing book, journal and electronic publishers in the UK, said the “extraordinary strength of support” against the proposals is “something the government ignores at its peril”.

He continued: “When Booker, Grammy, Oscar and Nobel prize winners are united in calling on the government for a fair hearing, we have to hope they listen…

“The message to government is clear: the great copyright heist cannot go unchallenged.”

Grammy-award winning singer Roberta Flack has died at the age of 88, her publicist has announced.

The American singer was best known for her hit songs Killing Me Softly With His Song and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

One of the top recording artists of the 1970s, she died on Monday surrounded by her family, her publicist Elaine Schock said in a statement.

In 2022, Flack announced she was suffering from motor neurone disease (MND), and could no longer sing.

Rising to fame in her early 30s, Flack became an overnight success after Clint Eastwood chose her song, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, as the soundtrack for the explicit love scenes of his 1971 movie Play Misty For Me.

The track topped the US charts in 1972, and Flack was rewarded with a Grammy.

The following year she took the coveted Record of the Year prize at the Grammys for a second time with Killing Me Softly, becoming the first artist ever to do so.

Discovered in the late 1960s by jazz musician Les McCann, Flack was a classically trained pianist, receiving a full scholarship to study at Howard University at just 15.

McCann later wrote of Flack: “Her voice touched, tapped, trapped, and kicked every emotion I’ve ever known.”

A shining light in the social and civil rights movement of the time, Flack was friends with both Reverend Jesse Jackson and Angela Davis whom Flack visited in prison when Davis faced charges – for which she was acquitted – for murder and kidnapping.

Flack also sang at the funeral of Jackie Robinson, Major League Baseball’s first black player.

Living on the same floor of the famous Dakota apartment building as John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Flack also became friends with the Beatle, later releasing an album of Beatles covers.

Born Roberta Cleopatra Flack, to musician parents in Black Mountain, North Carolina, in 1937, she was raised in Arlington, Virginia.

She was married to jazz musician Stephen Novosel between 1966 and 1972.

Flack’s other hits from the 1970s included Feel Like Makin’ Love and two duets with her close friend and former Howard University classmate Donny Hathaway, Where Is the Love and The Closer I Get to You.

Sadly, their partnership ended in tragedy, after he fell to his death from his hotel room in Manhattan in 1979, after suffering a breakdown while they were recording an album of duets together.

While Flack never matched her first run of success, she had a follow-up hit in the 1980s with the Peabo Bryson duet Tonight, I Celebrate My Love and in the 1990s with the Maxi Priest duet Set The Night To Music.

In the mid-90s, she received a wave of new attention after the Fugees covered Killing Me Softly. She would go on to perform with the hip-hop band on stage.

A five-time Grammy winner, Flack received a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2020.

Contemporary stars to praise her include Beyoncé, John Legend and Ariana Grande.

Working as a high-school teacher in her 20s, while gigging in clubs during the evenings, Flack proved a canny educator, telling the Tampa Bay Times in 2012: “I was teaching at Banneker Junior High in Washington, DC It was part of the city where kids weren’t that privileged, but they were privileged enough to have music education.

“I really wanted them to read music. First, I’d get their attention. [I’d sing]: ‘Stop, in the name of love.’ Then I could teach them!”

Mariah Carey is set to perform an exclusive concert at a royal estate.

The US megastar is lined up to headline Heritage Live at Sandringham in Norfolk on 15 August.

Also set to perform on the same day of the festival are Nile Rodgers & Chic and British R&B group Eternal.

It will be the second UK show for the singer this summer, as she has also been confirmed as the headliner for the Brighton Pride Festival on 2 August.

The singer was previously lined up for the event in 2020, which was later cancelled due to the COVID pandemic.

Giles Cooper of Heritage Live Festivals, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to bring one of the greatest pop artists of all time to the Royal Sandringham Estate for an exclusive UK headline show.

“Mariah Carey is an award-winner, a record-breaker, and an absolute global icon – this show will be historic.

“Mariah’s live show is second to none and with such a catalogue of huge hit singles, it’s going to be an incredible occasion. It will most definitely be an ‘I was there’ event that will live in all of our memories forever.”

Carey has 19 number one US singles to her name, more than any other solo artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

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Her best-known hits include Vision of Love, Fantasy, Emotions and the festive favourite All I Want For Christmas Is You – which turned 30 at the end of last year.

Sandringham is described as the “much-loved country estate” of King Charles III and Queen Camilla. The Royal Family traditionally spend Christmas at Sandringham.