Musicians union sues major record labels over AI licensing deals that exclude artist compensation

Musicians union sues record labels over AI licensing

June 5 (Reuters) - The world's largest instrumental musicians union sued Warner Music Group (WMG.O), opens new tab and Universal Music Group (UMG.AS), opens new tab in Manhattan federal court on Friday for allegedly licensing its members' work to tech companies for AI training without permission from the musicians. The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada told the court, opens new tab that the settlements of copyright disputes of the labels with AI music generators Suno and Udio wrongly allowed the companies to continue using its members' recordings without compensating them. AFM asked the court for an unspecified amount of monetary damages from the labels for allegedly breaking their labor contract. A Universal Music spokesperson responded that the company has "been at the forefront of protecting the rights and advancing the interests of artists and songwriters in the age of AI -- striking responsible AI licensing agreements to ensure they are ⁠compensated, leading the charge for legislation to further protect them and taking legal action against bad actors." "The AFM chose this route during our collective bargaining negotiations, and we will continue to work to resolve any issues through these negotiations, as we have in the past," the spokesperson said. Spokespeople for Warner and the union did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the complaint. Spokespeople for Suno and Udio, who are not defendants in the case, also did not immediately respond to comment requests. The labels and Sony Music sued Udio and Suno in 2024, alleging the AI companies unlawfully copied their recordings to teach their systems to create music that will "directly compete with, cheapen, and ultimately drown out" human artists. The cases are part of a wave of lawsuits brought by copyright owners against tech companies for using their material in AI ⁠training without permission. Warner and Universal settled their cases against Udio last year. Warner also settled with Suno last year, while Universal's case against Suno is still ongoing. The settlements will allow the AI companies to use licensed music from the labels in their models. Sony Music has not settled with either company and is not named in AFM's complaint. AFM, an affiliate of AFL-CIO, argued in its lawsuit that Warner and Universal violated their labor agreement by allowing the AI ⁠companies to do "exactly" what the labels "warned about: Training AI models to generate supposedly 'new' sound recordings derived from music ingested into their models." "While the defendants protected their own interests and created a significant source of new revenue with the retrospective settlements and prospective licenses, they have refused to compensate the musicians whose ⁠work - created with their own instruments and through their talent, creativity, and hard work - is fed into AI machines for profit," the lawsuit said. The case is American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada v. Warner Music Group Corp, U.S. District Court for the ⁠Southern District of New York, No. 1:26-cv-04760. For AFM: Eyad Asad of Cohen Weiss & Simon For the labels: attorney information not yet available Music labels sue AI companies Suno, Udio for US copyright infringement Warner Music Group settles copyright case with Suno for licensed AI music Warner Music Group, Udio settle copyright case, plan new AI song creation platform Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Daniel Wiessner Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Litigation * Intellectual Property * Employment Blake Brittain Thomson Reuters Blake Brittain reports on intellectual property law, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets, for Reuters Legal. He has previously written for Bloomberg Law and Thomson Reuters Practical Law and practiced as an attorney.

Musicians' Union Sues Major Labels for Artists' Share of AI Song Generator Settlement Money

The American Federation of Musicians is suing major record companies Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group over the labels' recent moves to settle their lawsuits with AI music generators Suno and Udio, arguing that the settlements' benefits aren't reaching the musicians themselves. "While the Defendants protected their own interests and created a significant source of new revenue with the retrospective settlements and prospective licenses, they have refused to compensate the musicians whose work - created with their own instruments and through their talent, creativity, and hard work - is fed into AI machines for profit," the AFM said in the complaint filed in federal court on Friday. The AFM's lawsuit comes months after UMG and WMG reached settlements with Udio and Suno last fall. UMG, the world's largest music company, struck the first deal, announcing a settlement and partnership with Udio in late October of 2025. WMG came after, announcing a partnership of its own with Udio in mid-November. Weeks after that, WMG became the first (and so far the only) major label to settle with Suno. The "big three" record companies, which includes Sony Music Group alongside UMG and WMG, first sued Suno and Udio in 2024, accusing that the AI music generators of massive copyright infringement by training their models on thousands of iconic songs without permission. Sony is the lone major music company that hasn't settled with either AI company. In settling with Suno and Udio, the AFM alleged that UMG and WMG "are allowing those same AI companies to use the work of AFM-represented musicians to do exactly what they warned about: Training AI models to generate supposedly 'new' sound recordings derived from music ingested into their models." The AFM further stated that with the settlements, UMG and WMG received significant compensation from the AI companies for past copyright violations, "licensed substantial portions of their music catalogs to the AI companies to train their models on both a retroactive and prospective basis, and will earn further revenue on an ongoing basis from the AI companies." Defendants have failed to share in the settlement proceeds and future revenue with those same artists whose music was copied, used for training, and incorporated into the development of the AI models and platforms now being commercially exploited as a new use of the performances embodied in those recordings, despite their self-congratulatory claims of protecting those same artists," the AFM said. Neither UMG nor WMG immediately responded to request for comment. AI music remains the hottest issue in the industry at the moment, as the business looks with caution on how to adopt AI while protecting its copyrights. One large looming question among stakeholders is how musicians themselves would actually get paid from their music being used to train the new songs. By the AFM's assertion, that's yet to happen at all. While the likes of Suno and Udio are controversial in the business as songs have been used without permission and AI slop songs continue to flood streaming services, they're growing more popular and are courting significant investment. Suno, the most prominent AI music platform in the business, announced earlier this week that it closed a $400 million funding round that valued the company at $5.4 billion.