Paul McCartney releases silent track to protest AI's use within music industry; fans say ‘That’s my GOAT!'

Paul McCartney has joined the likes of Hans Zimmer and Pet Shop Boys protesting AI misuse, warning that unchecked data-mining could leave musicians unheard.

Popular English singer-songwriter Paul McCartney has joined a growing chorus of British musicians pushing back against artificial intelligence, not with a soaring melody, but with near-total silence. His latest release, a wordless, barely-there track added to the B-side of the protest LP Is This What We Want? as a bonus track, uses almost nothing but hiss and stray studio sounds to underline what artists say is at stake if AI companies continue mining their work without permission.

Paul McCartney has released a silent track recently (AP)

According to a report in the Guardian, at two minutes and 45 seconds, the piece runs as long as some of his classics, yet offers no tune, no guitar, and no familiar warmth. Instead, listeners get the ambience of an empty studio, roughly a minute of hiss, a brief stretch of muffled clattering and another quiet drift toward a slow fadeout. The starkness is intentional, reflecting a future musicians fear, one where original music is drowned out because tech firms freely harvest their recordings to train generative AI models.

Ed Newton-Rex, the composer leading the effort, said: “I am very concerned the government is paying more attention to US tech companies’ interests rather than British creatives’ interests.” Other notable supporters already on board include Sam Fender, Kate Bush, Hans Zimmer and Pet Shop Boys.

The album, due later this month on vinyl, strings together similar silent tracks from multiple artists. Its track list collectively spells out a blunt warning that “the British government must not legalise music theft to benefit AI companies.” The project aims to pressure UK ministers to halt plans that would allow AI developers — including OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and xAI — expanded access to creative material without approval or compensation.

Paul, now 83 and touring US and Canada, has been increasingly outspoken about the proposed copyright changes. The silent LP itself first appeared earlier this year as a compilation of studio ambience, intended to spotlight what organizers described as “the impact we expect the government’s proposals would have on musicians’ livelihoods.”