Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group are accusing AI companies Suno and Udio of training their technology on their artists’ works without permission.
Rolling Stone reports that the copyright infringement lawsuit was filed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in Massachusetts and New York, and alleges that both AI music generating companies either created songs that are similar to or include music from big-name artists. Udio supposedly generated products that shared “striking resemblances” to the likes of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” the Beach Boys’ “I Get Around,” ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”
Meanwhile, Suno’s generated outputs supposedly contained parts of B.B. King’s “The Thrill Is Gone,” Jerry Lee Lewis’s “Great Balls of Fire,” James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good)” and Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.” The “highly distinctive rhythm of the original’s chorus” and the “melodic shape of the phrases “go Johnny, go go” were allegedly replicated to create “Deep Down in Louisiana Close to New Orle,” a track generated with the prompt “1950s rock and roll, rhythm & blues, 12 bar blues, rockabilly, energetic male vocalist, singer guitarist.”
“Suno continues to dodge the basic question: what sound recordings have they illegally copied?” the RIAA said in a statement. “In an apparent attempt to deceive working artists, rightsholders, and the media about its technology, Suno refuses to address the fact that its service has literally been caught on tape – as part of the evidence in this case – doing what Mr. Shulman says his company doesn’t do: memorizing and regurgitating the art made by humans.”
The association added, “Winners of the streaming era worked cooperatively with artists and rightsholders to properly license music. The losers did exactly what Suno and Udio are doing now.”
The RIAA is now seeking for damages of up to $150,000 USD per infringed song.
Suno and Udio are yet to release its statements.
