Generative AI Music Programs Suno and Udio Sued by Major Labels
The recording industry is intensifying its fight against unauthorized, AI-generated music with lawsuits targeting two leading services, Suno and Udio.
Filed in separate U.S. district courts, the suits allege that the companies behind those programs have unlawfully exploited copyrighted sound recordings to train their AI-powered text-to-music models.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has reportedly spearheaded the lawsuits, representing the big three major labels: Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Records. The complaints emphasize that Suno and Udio have copied vast amounts of sound recordings without obtaining proper permissions, thus violating fundamental copyright laws.
According to the complaints, AI-powered music generation services like Suno and Udio operate by ingesting massive datasets of popular music to create new outputs that mimic human sound recordings. This method, the lawsuits argue, not only infringes on copyright but also poses risks of flooding the market with AI-generated music, which could overshadow genuine works created by humans.
The lawsuits seek to achieve several goals: court declarations that the services have infringed on copyrighted works, injunctions to prevent future infringements and financial damages for past violations.
RIAA Chairman and CEO Mitch Glazier stressed that while the music community is open to collaborating with responsible AI developers, unlicensed services pose a significant threat to the integrity and value of human creativity.
"The music community has embraced AI and we are already partnering and collaborating with responsible developers to build sustainable AI tools centered on human creativity that put artists and songwriters in charge," Glazier said in a statement. "But we can only succeed if developers are willing to work together with us. Unlicensed services like Suno and Udio that claim it’s 'fair' to copy an artist's life's work and exploit it for their own profit without consent or pay set back the promise of genuinely innovative AI for us all."
