Some of the companies are seeking damages of up to $150,000 per song, or even a portion of the companies’ profits.
Several of the world’s major music labels are suing generative music services Suno and Udio, accusing the startups of infringing the copyrights of top artists and training their generative AI engines without permission.
Record companies including Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Records and Capitol Records filed copyright infringement lawsuits in federal courts in Boston and New York on Monday, seeking damages of up to $150,000 per song or a share of their profits.
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“Unlicensed services like Suno and Udio claim it’s ‘fair’ to copy an artist’s lifetime work and exploit it for their own profit without consent or compensation, thwarting the truly transformative promise of AI for us all,” RIAA CEO Mitch Glazier said in a statement.
Examples cited in the lawsuit included prompts using Suno’s services to mass-produce songs that imitated the copyrighted works of artists such as Chuck Berry, James Brown, Michael Bublé and ABBA.
Snow and Udio did not respond to requests for comment.
Infringing on people’s ownership of their artistic works in order to train generative AI models is a flashpoint as the race continues to make technology more powerful and ultimately profitable.
The two lawsuits filed against the companies revolve around their generative AI services that allow users to create songs using basic prompts.
According to the lawsuit, Snow and Udio have been coy about how they train their AI models, calling it a secret.
Announcing the lawsuit, a representative for the RIAA said music publishers are working with “responsible developers” to create AI tools that respect artists’ work.
“Real music comes from real lives and real people,” Willie “Prophet” Stigers, CEO of the Black Music Action Coalition, said in a statement.
“It’s important that artists and songwriters take responsibility for their work, their stories and their messages.”
In April, hundreds of artists and songwriters, including Billie Eilish, Smokey Robinson and the estate of Frank Sinatra, signed an open letter calling for protections against “assaults on human creativity” by artificial intelligence.
“We must protect against AI being misused to steal the voices and likeness of professional artists, infringe on creative rights, and disrupt the music ecosystem,” said the letter, filed by the nonprofit Artists Rights Alliance.
