The battle between artificial intelligence (AI) software and the music industry continues with a new lawsuit against two AI music startups.
Major record labels Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Records are suing AI music-making programs Suno Inc. and Udio AI for “massive and persistent copyright infringement.” The lawsuit alleges that the companies “copied sound recordings from the labels ‘on a massive scale’ and incorporated them into their own AI models,” actions that the plaintiffs claim violate copyright law, Forbes reports.
Additionally, Suno and Udio AI are accused of using artists’ music to “train their AI services.” The lawsuit against Suno alleges in its filing that, “without infringing copyrights on such a massive scale, Suno’s services would not be able to reproduce such a wide range of convincing imitations of human musical expression with the quality that Suno advertises.”
Similarly, the criticisms against Udio AI are equally weighty, with it being noted that “from the start, Udio has ignored the rights of copyright holders in the music industry in its desperate pursuit to become the dominant AI music generation service.”
Mitch Glazer, president and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), said in a press release that the music industry has not only embraced new technology, but is helping develop AI tools that “put artists and songwriters in the driver’s seat, and put human creativity at the center.” But he added that services like Suno and Udio AI, which “copy an artist’s life’s work and exploit it for profit without their consent or compensation, undermine the promise of truly transformative AI for all of us.”
As AFROTECH™ was previously This isn’t the first time AI technology has raised concerns within the music industry: In April 2023, UMG removed AI-generated trending songs featuring cloned voices of The Weeknd and Drake from its streaming services. By January 2024, the major music label cited ethical concerns about AI in its list of complaints and announced its intention to pull music from TikTok.
UMG has since moved its catalog back to social media platforms, but is now taking a bigger stance in the fight against AI.
According to Forbes, 10 million people were using Suno’s platform to make music as of May. Udio AI software was used to create “BBL Drizzy” during Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s infamous feud. The beat for the track, released in May by Metro Boomin, used Udio AI to create “vocals, melodies and sampled instrumentation,” though the producer was unaware of AI’s involvement at the time.
While the label isn’t a fan of AI-generated music, musician Will.i.am called Udio AI a “whole new renaissance” and a “tool for creativity of our time,” according to the outlet.
