Universal Music Group Settles Copyright Lawsuit with AI Startup Udio, Partners on New Music Platform

Universal partners with AI startup Udio after settling copyright suit

Universal Music Group says it has made "industry-first strategic agreements" to "settle copyright infringement litigation" with AI startup Udio and license music for a new AI-powered music platform. The move is one of several anticipated licensing deals expected to land in the next few weeks as the sector grapples with how to handle AI. The deal includes some form of compensation and "will provide further revenue opportunities for UMG artists and songwriters," Universal says. Udio, the company behind "BBL Drizzy," will launch the platform as a subscription service next year. Universal, alongside other industry giants Sony and Warner, sued Udio and another startup Suno for "en masse" copyright infringement last year. Universal -- whose roster includes some of the world's biggest performers like Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, and Ariana Grande -- says the new tool will "transform the user engagement experience" and let creators customize, stream, and share music. There's no indication of how much it will cost yet. Udio's existing music maker, which lets you create new songs with a few words, will remain available during the transition, though content will be held "within a walled garden" and security measures like fingerprinting will be added.

Universal Music and AI song generator Udio settle lawsuit and partner on new AI music platform

LONDON (AP) -- Universal Music Group and AI song generation platform Udio have settled a copyright infringement lawsuit and agreed to team up on new music creation and streaming platform, the two companies said in a joint statement. Universal and Udio said Wednesday that they reached a "compensatory legal settlement" as well as new licensing agreements for recorded music and publishing that will "provide further revenue opportunities" for the record label's artists and songwriters. The rise of AI song generation tools like Udio has disrupted the $20 billion music streaming industry. Record labels accuse the platforms of exploiting the recorded works of artists without compensating them. The deal is the first since Universal, along with Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Records, sued Udio and another AI song generator, Suno, last year over copyright infringement. "These new agreements with Udio demonstrate our commitment to do what's right by our artists and songwriters, whether that means embracing new technologies, developing new business models, diversifying revenue streams or beyond," Universal CEO Lucian Grainge said. Financial terms of the settlement weren't disclosed. Udio and Suno pioneered AI song generation technology, which can spit out new songs based on prompts typed into a chatbot-style text box. Users, who don't need musical talent, can merely request a tune in the style of, for example, classic rock, 1980s synth-pop or West Coast rap. The tools have fueled debate over AI's role in music while raising fears about "AI slop" -- automatically generated low quality mass produced content -- highlighted by the rise of fictitious bands passing for real artists. Udio and Universal, which counts Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar, among its artists, said the new AI subscription service will debut next year. It will let users "customize, stream and share music responsibly on the Udio platform" and be trained on "authorized and licensed music." Udio CEO Andrew Sanchez said the deal "empowers artists and fans" and unites "AI and the music industry in a way that truly champions artists."

Universal Music and AI song generator Udio settle lawsuit and partner on new AI music platform

LONDON (AP) -- Universal Music Group and AI song generation platform Udio have settled a copyright infringement lawsuit and agreed to team up on new music creation and streaming platform, the two companies said in a joint statement. Universal and Udio said Wednesday that they reached a "compensatory legal settlement" as well as new licensing agreements for recorded music and publishing that will "provide further revenue opportunities" for the record label's artists and songwriters. The rise of AI song generation tools like Udio has disrupted the $20 billion music streaming industry. Record labels accuse the platforms of exploiting the recorded works of artists without compensating them. The deal is the first since Universal, along with Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Records, sued Udio and another AI song generator, Suno, last year over copyright infringement. "These new agreements with Udio demonstrate our commitment to do what's right by our artists and songwriters, whether that means embracing new technologies, developing new business models, diversifying revenue streams or beyond," Universal CEO Lucian Grainge said. Financial terms of the settlement weren't disclosed. Udio and Suno pioneered AI song generation technology, which can spit out new songs based on prompts typed into a chatbot-style text box. Users, who don't need musical talent, can merely request a tune in the style of, for example, classic rock, 1980s synth-pop or West Coast rap. The tools have fueled debate over AI's role in music while raising fears about "AI slop" -- automatically generated low quality mass produced content -- highlighted by the rise of fictitious bands passing for real artists. Udio and Universal, which counts Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar, among its artists, said the new AI subscription service will debut next year. It will let users "customize, stream and share music responsibly on the Udio platform" and be trained on "authorized and licensed music." Udio CEO Andrew Sanchez said the deal "empowers artists and fans" and unites "AI and the music industry in a way that truly champions artists."

Universal Music and AI song generator Udio settle lawsuit and partner on new AI music platform

LONDON -- Universal Music Group and AI song generation platform Udio have settled a copyright infringement lawsuit and agreed to team up on new music creation and streaming platform, the two companies said in a joint statement. Universal and Udio said Wednesday that they reached a "compensatory legal settlement" as well as new licensing agreements for recorded music and publishing that will "provide further revenue opportunities" for the record label's artists and songwriters. The rise of AI song generation tools like Udio has disrupted the $20 billion music streaming industry. Record labels accuse the platforms of exploiting the recorded works of artists without compensating them. The deal is the first since Universal, along with Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Records, sued Udio and another AI song generator, Suno, last year over copyright infringement. "These new agreements with Udio demonstrate our commitment to do what's right by our artists and songwriters, whether that means embracing new technologies, developing new business models, diversifying revenue streams or beyond," Universal CEO Lucian Grainge said. Financial terms of the settlement weren't disclosed. Udio and Suno pioneered AI song generation technology, which can spit out new songs based on prompts typed into a chatbot-style text box. Users, who don't need musical talent, can merely request a tune in the style of, for example, classic rock, 1980s synth-pop or West Coast rap. The tools have fueled debate over AI's role in music while raising fears about "AI slop" -- automatically generated low quality mass produced content -- highlighted by the rise of fictitious bands passing for real artists. Udio and Universal, which counts Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar, among its artists, said the new AI subscription service will debut next year. It will let users "customize, stream and share music responsibly on the Udio platform" and be trained on "authorized and licensed music." Udio CEO Andrew Sanchez said the deal "empowers artists and fans" and unites "AI and the music industry in a way that truly champions artists."

Universal Music and AI Song Generator Udio Settle Lawsuit and Partner on New AI Music Platform

LONDON (AP) -- Universal Music Group and AI song generation platform Udio have settled a copyright infringement lawsuit and agreed to team up on new music creation and streaming platform, the two companies said in a joint statement. Universal and Udio said Wednesday that they reached a "compensatory legal settlement" as well as new licensing agreements for recorded music and publishing that will "provide further revenue opportunities" for the record label's artists and songwriters. The rise of AI song generation tools like Udio has disrupted the $20 billion music streaming industry. Record labels accuse the platforms of exploiting the recorded works of artists without compensating them. The deal is the first since Universal, along with Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Records, sued Udio and another AI song generator, Suno, last year over copyright infringement. "These new agreements with Udio demonstrate our commitment to do what's right by our artists and songwriters, whether that means embracing new technologies, developing new business models, diversifying revenue streams or beyond," Universal CEO Lucian Grainge said. Financial terms of the settlement weren't disclosed. Udio and Suno pioneered AI song generation technology, which can spit out new songs based on prompts typed into a chatbot-style text box. Users, who don't need musical talent, can merely request a tune in the style of, for example, classic rock, 1980s synth-pop or West Coast rap. The tools have fueled debate over AI's role in music while raising fears about "AI slop" -- automatically generated low quality mass produced content -- highlighted by the rise of fictitious bands passing for real artists. Udio and Universal, which counts Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar, among its artists, said the new AI subscription service will debut next year. It will let users "customize, stream and share music responsibly on the Udio platform" and be trained on "authorized and licensed music." Udio CEO Andrew Sanchez said the deal "empowers artists and fans" and unites "AI and the music industry in a way that truly champions artists."

Universal Music settles copyright dispute with AI firm Udio

Universal Music Group has settled a copyright infringement lawsuit with AI company Udio, agreeing to collaborate on new creative products. The partnership will launch a platform next year using AI trained on licensed music. This follows a lawsuit filed by major labels accusing Udio and Suno of mass copyright infringement by using their recordings to train AI music generators. Universal Music Group said on Wednesday it has settled a copyright infringement case with artificial intelligence company Udio and that the two firms will collaborate on a new suite of creative products. Under the agreement, the companies will launch a platform next year that leverages generative AI trained on authorized and licensed music. UMG Chairman Sir Lucian Grainge said the agreements "demonstrate our commitment to do what's right by our artists and songwriters, whether that means embracing new technologies, developing new business models, diversifying revenue streams or beyond." Udio CEO Andrew Sanchez said the companies are "building the technological and business landscape that will fundamentally expand what's possible in music creation and engagement." In 2024, major record labels Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Records had sued Udio and another AI firm called Suno, accusing them of committing mass copyright infringement by using the labels' recordings to train music-generating AI systems. The labels alleged that the AI companies copied hundreds of songs from some of the world's most popular musicians to teach their systems to create music that will "directly compete with, cheapen, and ultimately drown out" human artists. At the time, Suno and Udio argued that using copyrighted sound recordings to train their systems qualified as fair use under U.S. copyright law and described the lawsuits as attempts to stifle independent competition. The lawsuit is one of several high-stakes cases brought by copyright owners including authors, news outlets and visual artists against tech companies for allegedly using their work without permission to train AI. Sony and Warner's cases against Udio are still ongoing, as are all three labels' cases against Suno. UMG is the world's biggest music label, and its catalogue of artists also includes Taylor Swift, BTS, Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter and Lady Gaga.

Universal Music Group Settles Major AI Lawsuit With Udio After Song Theft Claims

How 'Nobody Wants This' Season 2 Locked in One of the Most Star-Studded Soundtracks of the Year Universal Music Group is settling its copyright infringement lawsuit against AI music generation platform Udio, the companies confirmed late Wednesday night, with the two companies saying they'd now be collaborating to develop new AI music generation and streaming platform. UMG and Udio didn't provide any financial details of the settlement but said the new platform would come out sometime in 2026 and would be trained on licensed music from UMG's catalog. UMG is the world's largest music company, with a roster that includes stars like Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Billie Eilish and Sabrina Carpenter among others. The deal ends UMG's involvement in one of the most high-profile lawsuits in the music industry, coming over a year after Universal sued AI music generators Suno and Udio alongside fellow "Big Three" music companies Sony Music Group and Warner Music Group. The record companies accused the two AI platforms of massive copyright infringement by training their models on millions of unlicensed works from their catalogs. At press time, Sony and Warner are still litigating against Udio. All three companies remain in active litigation against Suno. In a press release, UMG and Udio said the new subscription service would "transform the user engagement experience, creating a licensed and protected environment to customize, stream and share music responsibly." "This moment brings to life everything we've been building toward - uniting AI and the music industry in a way that truly champions artists," Udio founder and CEO Andrew Sanchez said in a statement. "Together, we're building the technological and business landscape that will fundamentally expand what's possible in music creation and engagement." UMG and Udio said Udio's current product would be available to users in a "walled garden" before the new product is made available next year. "These new agreements with Udio demonstrate our commitment to do what's right by our artists and songwriters, whether that means embracing new technologies, developing new business models, diversifying revenue streams or beyond," UMG chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge said in a statement. "We look forward to working with Andrew who shares our belief that together, we can foster a healthy commercial AI ecosystem in which artists, songwriters, music companies and technology companies can all flourish and create incredible experiences for fans." Alongside the Udio deal, UMG, which will post its third quarter earnings later this morning, also announced a partnership with Stability AI on Thursday to develop a slate of AI music creation tools, though the companies didn't disclose what those specific tools would be. UMG and Stability said the new tools would be "powered by responsibly trained generative AI and built to support the creative process of artists, producers and songwriters globally." AI remains among the most-pressing issues in the music business. Last month, Spotify shared a new AI policy to crack down on AI use by "bad actors" while not outlawing AI music on the platform outright. The streaming service said at the time that it had removed 75 million "spammy" songs. Earlier this month, Spotify announced it had entered an agreement with all of the major music companies to develop new AI music products. Of the new partnership with Stability, UMG EVP and chief digital officer Michael Nash said that the company has "made abundantly clear, we will only consider advancing AI tools and products based on models that are trained responsibly." Stability CEO Prem Akkaraju said the company's new partnership with UMG marks the next chapter of music creation. At Stability AI, we put the artist at the center and build AI around their unique needs because real transformation has always come from a combination of art and science."

Universal says struck first licensing deal for AI music

Recording industry giant Universal Music Group said Thursday it had struck a licensing deal with AI music generation startup Udio, in an industry-first tie-up aiming to launch an AI creation platform next year. Universal and Udio said in a statement that their platform, as yet unnamed, "will be powered by new cutting-edge generative AI technology that will be trained on authorized and licensed music". They added that they had settled an outstanding copyright infringement case, without specifying the financial terms. The agreement comes as artists, from authors to musicians and video game developers, fear eventual replacement by AI models trained on decades of human-produced creative output, while music streaming platforms already report a rising flood of computer-generated songs. AI firms from industry leader OpenAI to music specialists like Udio and competitor Suno have previously been accused by major record companies of using their songs to "train" artificial intelligence models which can produce music that apes human artists. Rightsholders have demanded stricter limits on the AI developers' activities, including transparency on what source material they have used and guarantees for their revenue. Startups were "engaged in the largest copyright infringement exercise that has been seen," International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP) boss John Phelan told AFP last month. And the Recording Industry Association of America, a US trade group, filed a lawsuit in June 2024 against both Udio and Suno. By contrast, Thursday's tie-up showed the way towards "a healthy commercial AI ecosystem in which artists, songwriters, music companies and technology companies can all flourish," UMG chief Lucian Grainge said. Broader talks between music companies and tech firms on how to license works for AI remain under way.

Universal Music, Stability AI to Develop Music Creation Tools

Universal Music Group said it reached an agreement with artificial-intelligence startup Stability AI to develop professional music creation tools as the record label steps up efforts to leverage the technology. The world's largest music company said it would explore new recording and composition concepts with Stability AI, liaising closely with artists to ensure the new tools are beneficial and not detrimental to their work. "With AI, as with everything else we do, we start with what best supports our work to help them achieve creative and commercial success and build from that foundation to forge new and better commercial and creative opportunities. And as we've made abundantly clear, we will only consider advancing AI tools and products based on models that are trained responsibly," Michael Nash, Universal's chief digital officer, said. The announcement comes after Universal Music signed a deal with AI music generator Udio to launch a new platform trained on licensed songs, part of a settlement in a dispute in which Universal had accused the AI startup of copyright infringement.