TAKEAWAYS
- The complaints allege that gen AI technology produced by Suno and Udio directly infringes on copyrights owned by Universal Music Group (UMG) Records, Sony Music Entertainment, and other major record labels.
- The growing unpredictability and possible risk to gen AI models has led to a noticeable shift in AI platforms entering into licensing agreements with artists, authors and journalists.
In late June, Universal Music Group (UMG) Records, Sony Music Entertainment, and other major record labels filed two complaints against two generative artificial intelligence (“gen AI”) music startups, Suno, Inc. (Suno) and Uncharted Labs, Inc. (Udio). The concurrently filed complaints allege that the gen AI technology produced by Suno directly infringes on copyrights owned by these record labels. The complaints allege that the AI models used by Suno and Udio were trained on copyrighted records and, when prompted, produced music that closely resembles the copyrighted materials. These complaints follow a series of lawsuits filed against numerous gen AI platforms which raise legal and policy questions about the use of copyrighted creative works to train AI systems on digital platforms, and, most notably, whether such use of protected works constitutes fair use or copyright infringement.
The record labels allege that Suno and Udio are circumventing copyright laws by using copyrighted materials without a license to train their AI algorithms which are then used to create, as alleged, infringing music content on their platforms. The recording companies further allege that the ultimate output creates voices, sounds, and songs that are substantially similar to content belonging to well-known recording artists. While AI technology can enhance user experience by offering personalized recommendations and complimenting human creativity, the record labels argue that copyright law requires proper licensing and permissions secured from rights holders before they can be used by AI platforms in their training and automation processes. The record labels further argue that the unauthorized use and distribution of copyrighted music undermines the exclusive rights granted to them and recording artists under U.S. copyright law—including the ability to control how their works are used, distributed, and monetized. These cases will be closely watched as they could dictate the interpretation of copyright law and the protection of fair use in the copyright space.
In light of growing unpredictability and the possible risk to gen AI models, there has been a noticeable shift in AI platforms entering into licensing agreements with artists, authors, and journalists. Indeed, these lawsuits follow UMG’s recent announcement of a new partnership with SoundLabs, a music production and AI startup focused on creating ethically trained AI-assistive tools for use by music professionals in their work. The collaboration will allow UMG’s artists and producers to use SoundLabs’ AI tool, MicDrop, to create custom music using their own voice data. Perhaps in response to the early gen AI copyright lawsuits, the partnership highlights SoundLabs’ commitment to the ethical use of intellectual property by training its AI models with the consent of intellectual property rights owners. This partnership and lawsuit follow UMG and Roland’s recent publication of the Principles for Music Creation with AI (aiformusic), a series of principles advocating for the ethical use of AI in the music industry that promotes the need for transparent, ethical and community collaboration; reflects broader concerns within the music industry regarding the responsible use of this innovative technology; and discusses the protection and licensing of intellectual property.
Suno and Udio will soon answer the allegations and pre-suit communications, as alleged, and recent statements suggest Suno and Udio will likely argue that their tools do not memorize existing content but rather create non-infringing transformative works that generate completely new outputs, which constitutes fair use of the protected materials.
This suit marks the first time that record labels have sued an AI company over sound recordings. If proven, these allegations could influence how courts interpret and apply copyright law to cases involving AI-generated content and how AI companies can use protected intellectual property to train and create their AI models.
The cases are UMG Recordings, Inc. et al. v. Suno Inc. et al., case number 1:24-cv-11611, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts) and Udio (UMG Recordings Inc. et al. v. Uncharted Labs Inc., d/b/a Udio.com et al., case number 1:24-cv-04777, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
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