Green Paper on AI, Data Governance, and Metadata Policies for Europe’s Music Ecosystem (v0.1 Early Release)

September 2025

Open consultation Green Paper

Abstract

This is a mauture pre-release version of the Green Paper on AI, Data Governance, and Metadata Policies for Europe’s Music Ecosystem. Published ahead of schedule under Horizon Europe’s transparency requirements and the principles of Open Policy Analysis (OPA), this version enables stakeholder feedback and meaningful consultation. Please note: this draft should not be cited in academic or policy work. A stable, citable version with DOI will be released following further development and consultation.

Type

Report

About this Release

This Green Paper is an open consultation draft produced by Daniel Antal and Reprex as a part of Horizon Europe project. It has been released early in line with the principles of Open Policy Analysis (OPA) to make the drafting process auditable, invite feedback from stakeholders, and ensure transparency.

Important: This is a stable version with a DOI, and almost ready for publication. Our policy briedfs are currently under review by the European Commission.

This Green Paper is a maturing policy document developed within the Open Music Europe (OpenMusE) Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action (Grant Agreement No. 101095295). It deliberately combines policy research with implementation piloting, reflecting the project’s emphasis on innovation, experimentation, and real-world validation rather than abstract policy design alone.

This document situates the Open Music Observatory as a central reference point. The Observatory is a prototype of a modern European Music Observatory developed by the OpenMusE consortium, currently populated with data on economy, diversity, society, and innovation, and operating multiple federated modules. Technical documentation and versioned DOIs are available via Zenodo, with an overview at https://openmusicobservatory.eu/.

FThe Green Paper addresses three key reform layers:

Fixing music data at the source (reducing redundancy, improving interoperability, reconciling attribution and privacy).
Building a federated Open Music Observatory (as a European data-sharing space aligned with EIF, FAIR, EOSC, and ECCCH).
Aligning AI with governance and value creation (supporting curative AI, shared utilities, and trustworthy frameworks that help small actors as well as large platforms).

It serves as the basis for Deliverable D5.7 (Policy Brief) of the Open Music Europe consortium and will inform a subsequent White Paper to be discussed at LineCheck 2025 and the final policy forum in Brussels (December 2025).

Prepared in line with the Guidelines for Open Policy Analysis (available at https://www.bitss.org/opa/community-standards/) and the Horizon Europe Data Management Guidelines, the document has been released early to support consultation, incorporate stakeholder input, and ensure transparency throughout its development. In accordance with Open Policy Analysis principles, all related deliverables and technical documentation are publicly accessible to foster engagement and ensure a clear audit trail. The current version (and future White Paper drafts) is available at https://zenodo.org/records/17075796. Standardised folders, figures, and bibliographies are available at https://github.com/dataobservatory-eu/open-music-data-white-paper.

Participate

We invite stakeholders from music, cultural heritage, and AI governance communities to comment and contribute to this draft.
Please visit the Zenodo record or the Open Music Observatory website for more information.