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Sony hits Udio with new copyright suit
Sony has filed a new lawsuit against Udio over 30,117 recordings it says were used without permission to train the music generator.
Image: Engadget
Sony has filed a new lawsuit against AI music generator Udio, escalating the labels' fight over how music models are trained. According to Music Business Worldwide, the complaint covers 30,117 recordings that Sony says Udio used without permission.
This case is separate from the lawsuit Sony filed in 2024 alongside Universal and Warner, which accused Udio of infringing copyrighted works on a “massive scale.” Sony had tried to add these recordings to that original complaint, but the court rejected the request on June 29. At the same time, the ruling said that the plaintiffs still had the right to seek to stop infringement and recover damages for all copyrighted works, leading Sony to file a separate case instead.
According to The Verge, the list of songs in the new suit includes major tracks from artists including Alicia Keys, Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, Beyoncé, Bob Dylan, Britney Spears, and Michael Jackson.
Sony also alleges that Udio obtained training audio by ripping recordings from YouTube. Udio has previously acknowledged using audio data from YouTube to train its models, while arguing that doing so qualifies as fair use.
The new complaint lands after Udio already reached licensing agreements with Universal and Warner, both of which had joined the original lawsuit. When Warner announced its deal, it said the arrangement could create a new revenue stream for artists who choose to opt in.
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Sony, now the lone holdout among the major labels, argued in the lawsuit that Udio’s “belated embrace of licensing” only reinforces the claim that copying Sony’s and other labels' recordings without a license was unlawful from the start. Sony is seeking a jury trial and statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work.
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Marcus follows the money. He covers enterprise software, cloud architecture, and the tectonic shifts in Big Tech strategy. He translates dense earnings calls and complex M&A activity into actionable insights about where the industry is actually heading. If a tech giant makes a silent pivot, Marcus is usually the first to notice.
via Engadget
