Universal Music and AI song generator Udio settle lawsuit, announces

Universal Music and AI song generator Udio settle lawsuit, announces

LONDON — Universal Music Group and AI song technology platform Udio have settled a copyright infringement lawsuit and agreed to team up on new music creation and streaming platform, the two firms said in a joint announcement.

Universal and Udio said Wednesday that they reached a “compensatory legal settlement” in addition to new licensing agreements for recorded music and publishing that will “provide further revenue opportunities” for the file label’s artists and songwriters.

Universal Music Group — the house of Taylor Swift and other top artists — has announced it settled a lawsuit against AI song generator Udio. AFP by way of Getty Images

As a part of the deal, Udio instantly stopped permitting people to obtain songs they’ve created, which sparked a backlash and obvious exodus among paying customers.

The deal is the first since Universal, together with Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Records, sued Udio and another AI song generator, Suno, last 12 months 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 phrases of the settlement weren’t disclosed.

Universal announced another AI deal on Thursday, saying it was teaming up with Stability AI to develop “next-generation professional music creation tools.”

Udio and Suno pioneered AI song technology technology, which might spit out new songs based on prompts typed right into a chatbot-style textual content box. Users, who don’t want musical expertise, can merely request a tune in the fashion of, for instance, traditional rock, Eighties synth-pop or West Coast rap.

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 12 months.

Udio CEO Andrew Sanchez said in a weblog publish that people will have the ability to use it to remix their favourite songs or mashup different tunes or song kinds. Artists will have the ability to give permission for the way their music can be utilized, he said.

However, “downloads from the platform will be unavailable,” he said.

AI songs made on Udio will probably be “controlled within a walled garden” as a part of the transition to the new service, the two firms said of their joint announcement.

The transfer angered Udio’s customers, according to posts on Reddit’s Udio forum, the place they vented about feeling betrayed by the platform’s shock transfer and complained that it restricted what they might do with their music.

One consumer accused Universal of taking away “our democratic download freedoms.” Another said “Udio can never be trusted again.”

Many vowed to cancel their subscriptions for Udio, which has a free level in addition to premium plans that include more options.

The deal exhibits how the rise of AI song technology instruments like Udio has disrupted the $20 billion music streaming trade. Record labels accuse the platforms of exploiting the recorded works of artists without compensating them.

The instruments have fueled debate over AI’s function in music while elevating fears about “AI slop” — routinely generated, low high quality mass produced content — highlighted by the rise of fictitious bands passing for real artists.

In its lawsuit filed against Udio last 12 months, Universal alleged that particular AI-generated songs made on Udio carefully resembled Universal-owned classics like Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” The Temptations’ “My Girl” and vacation favorites like “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “Jingle Bell Rock.”

In the “My Girl” instance, a written immediate on Udio that requested for “my tempting 1964 girl smokey sing hitsville soul pop” generated a song with a “very similar melody, the same chords, and very similar backing vocals” as the hit song co-written by Smokey Robinson and recorded by The Temptations in 1964, according to the lawsuit. A hyperlink to the AI-generated song on Udio now says “Track not found.”

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