Major record labels Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Records are suing two AI startups, claiming that copyright violations threaten the “entire music ecosystem.”
In a potentially landmark case for the music and tech industries, the world’s largest record labels claim that two AI startups are stealing music and “spewing” knock-offs “on an almost unimaginable scale,” threatening “the entire music ecosystem.”
US-based AI startups Suno and Udio are being sued for $150,000 for each song they copied, with record companies alleging Suno copied 662 songs and Udio copied 1,670.
Microsoft-backed Suno claims that more than 10 million people have used its music-making tools. The startup recently announced it had raised $125 million from investors.
Udio, backed by venture capital investor Andreessen Horowitz, rose to fame as the program used to create the hit video “BBL Drizzy” in April.
Major record companies have filed lawsuits in two US courts alleging that AI companies are illegally profiting from the work of others.
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“Its use here is far from transformational and serves no functional purpose…” according to the complaint. [the] The AI model ingests copyrighted recordings rather than spitting out new competing music files.”
The record companies said Udio and Suno’s motives were “blatantly commercial and threaten to take away from the true human artistry that is at the heart of copyright protection.”
Sony, Universal and Warner said there was nothing about the AI that could justify the “mass theft” of copyrighted sound recordings.
Artists, AI, and Copyright
AI companies working in creative sectors often argue that using copyrighted material to train their systems is OK under the fair use principle.
The fair use doctrine in the United States allows you to use copyrighted works without a license, provided the use is transformative in some way.
The UK has a similar law called Fair Dealing, which allows individuals to use copyrighted material for certain purposes, so long as that use is deemed fair and reasonable.
AI optimists claim that training AI models and tools will be comparable to the human brain, which can listen to and learn from different works of art and gain inspiration.
But the music industry and the creative industries as a whole are strongly opposed to the use of the emerging technology, with many authors, media outlets and other creative organisations suing AI companies for misappropriating their work.
In April, more than 200 global music stars, including Billie Eilish, Bon Jovi, Stevie Wonder and Nicki Minaj, signed a letter calling for an end to the “predatory use of AI” in the music industry.
