Sony Music sues Udio over use of over 30,000 songs to train AI

Sony Music Entertainment has filed a new lawsuit against the developer of the AI-based music generator Udio.

Variety reports on the matter.

The company says the service used more than 30,000 songs to train its AI models without the permission of the copyright owners.

What the accusations are

Sony, together with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, first sued Udio and its rival Suno in June 2024. 

During the prior case’s proceedings, 30,117 musical works were identified that, the company claims, were included in Udio’s training datasets.

Among the performers whose recordings, according to Sony, were used — Beyoncé, Harry Styles and Elvis Presley.

In June this year a court rejected Sony’s request to add these new tracks to the original case, which forced the label to file a separate lawsuit.

In the lawsuit Sony argues that the use of copyrighted sound recordings to create a commercial AI-based product requires permission from the rights holders.

Sony Music is asking the court to award Udio at least $150,000 in damages for each work whose copyright it alleges was infringed. The company also seeks to bar Udio from using its music catalog to train AI models.

What Udio says

According to Variety, Udio representatives have so far declined to comment.

However, in response to Sony’s first lawsuit, Udio acknowledged using copyrighted songs from YouTube to train its models.

But the startup argues this falls under the principle of “fair use”, since the technical process is hidden from the public and serves to create a new product that does not violate copyrights.

Since the initial accusations the market situation has changed. The outlet writes that Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group settled their disputes with Udio and signed licensing agreements with the company.

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