REPORT: MAJORS COULD SETTLE WITH AI STARTUPS UDIO, SUNO

Bloomberg (behind a paywall) is reporting a thaw in the lawsuits between Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and generative AI startups Udio and Suno, which could lead to breakthrough licensing deals.

According to the story, the three majors could receive a small measure of equity in Suno and Udio if the deals go through.

In a suit filed last year by the RIAA on behalf of the labels, Suno and Udio were accused of flouting "the rights of copyright owners in the music industry as part of a mad dash to become the dominant AI music-generation service." The suit went on to state, "Neither these services nor any other generative AI company can be allowed to advance toward this goal by trampling the rights of copyright owners.”

The RIAA has been seeking legal declarations that Suno and Udio committed copyright infringement, injunctions barring them from doing so in the future and the recovery of damages. "Suno and Udio allow users to generate digital music files that mimic genuine human-created sound recordings in response to basic prompts," the org said at the time. "To build their products, they have engaged in mass infringement of real people’s art."