Paul McCartney, Sam Fender, and Kate Bush are among the names who have contributed silent tracks to a new album designed to protest AI.
The record is set to be pressed on vinyl and released later this month, and sees some huge names from across the music industry put forward songs – only instead of instrumentals and vocals, there is only the odd clatter or hint of background noise.
Dubbed ‘Is This What We Want?’ the album’s track listing spells out “the British government must not legalise music theft to benefit AI companies”, and the album is done to suggest that there will be no artists left to create new music if AI companies exploit their intellectual property to train AI models.
For his contribution, McCartney’s song comes as a B-side to the album’s tracklisting and is simply called ‘(Bonus Track)’. Running for two minutes and 45 seconds, the first minute is simply the sound of hissing from the tape, before there is the odd clatter heard in the background, and what sounds like someone pacing around in an empty room.
The album is full of other tracks from the likes of Pet Shop Boys, Kate Bush, Hans Zimmer, and Sam Fender.
Speaking about the motivation for the album, composer and campaigner Ed Newton-Rex said (via The Guardian): “I am very concerned the government is paying more attention to US tech companies’ interests rather than British creatives’ interests.”
Listen to the album:https://t.co/WY5HBVrQem
— Is This What We Want? (@i_t_w_w_w) February 26, 2025
McCartney has been outspoken about the use of AI in songwriting and in the music industry as a whole in recent times. At the start of the year, for example, the Beatles legend spoke out about the UK government’s plans to alter the copyright law and allow AI developers to use creators’ content to help develop their models. The songwriter criticised the plans as something that would rip off artists and result in a “loss of creativity”.
“We’re the people, you’re the government! You’re supposed to protect us. That’s your job,” he said. “So you know, if you’re putting through a bill, make sure you protect the creative thinkers, the creative artists, or you’re not going to have them.”
Sir Elton John would go on to share his support for McCartney’s statement, adding: “This will dilute and threaten young artists’ earnings even further. The musician community rejects it wholeheartedly.”
In May, the two of them, along with Coldplay, Dua Lipa, Florence Welch, Kate Bush and Robbie Williams were among 400 artists to sign a letter, asking for Keir Starmer to back proposals that would protect copyrighted artistic works from AI infringement, and in September the Wings icon and Sir Elton were also among the big-name British artists who pushed for the PM to protect the work of creatives ahead of a UK-US tech deal laid out during Donald Trump’s visit.
News of the ‘Is This What We Want?’ album was first shared in February, and helping to announce the LP, Kate Bush said: “In the music of the future, will our voices go unheard?”
All profits from the album will be donated to charity Help Musicians, visit here for more information about the album, and here to pre-order it.
Today we’re releasing the vinyl of Is This What We Want?, the silent album from 1000+ musicians protesting the UK government’s plans on AI & copyright.
Incredibly grateful to Paul McCartney for providing a new (silent) bonus track. And to the many UK musicians involved in the… pic.twitter.com/tlzVYLCS1n
— Ed Newton-Rex (@ednewtonrex) November 17, 2025
The Guardian reports that a new legal system regarding AI is likely to be debated in parliament in 2026, and while it is unlikely to take place sooner than that, the government have signed deals with multiple companies to boost AI adoption.
The impact of AI in the music industry is already noticeable. By the ned of 2024, a study warned that people working in music are likely to lose a quarter of their income to Artificial Intelligence over the next four years. That prediction came as the annual market for generative AI was then sat at €3billion, and expected to rise to €64billion by 2028.
Things have accelerated in 2025 too, with streaming platform Deezer stating that around 10,000 AI-generated tracks are submitted to the platform daily – making up around 10 per cent of all its music uploads, and more recent figures showing that 97 per cent of people “can’t tell the difference” between real and AI music.
In September, Spotify confirmed that it was cracking down on AI by removing 75million “spammy tracks” and targeting impersonators.
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