The landmark case sees Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Records suing AI startups Suno and Udio over alleged copyright infringement. It comes months after more than 200 artists signed an open letter calling for the “predatory” use of AI in the music industry to be stopped. Artificial intelligence has been a heated topic of conversation in the music industry, with debates ranging from the creative possibilities of the new technology to concerns around its legality.
The heat just got turned up a notch, as some of the world's biggest record labels are suing two AI start-ups, Suno and Udio, over alleged copyright infringement. The landmark case alleges that the startups are exploiting on an "almost unimaginable scale" the recorded works of artists. The Recording Industry Association of America announced the lawsuits yesterday (Monday 24 June) brought by labels including Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Records.
The "motive is brazenly commercial and threatens to displace the genuine human artistry that is at the heart of copyright protection", the record labels said in the lawsuits, adding that there was nothing about AI that excused the firms from "playing by the rules". They warned that the "wholesale theft" of the recordings threatened "the entire music ecosystem". They claim Suno and Udio’s software steals music to "spit out" similar work and ask for compensation of $150,000 (approx.
€140,000) per work. One case was .
