Sony Music Files New Lawsuit Against Udio Over 30,000 Copyrighted Recordings
Sony Music has filed a new lawsuit against generative AI music startup Udio in a New York federal court, alleging the unauthorized copying of over 30,000 audio recordings for model training. This follows a court's rejection of Sony's request to expand the scope of an earlier June 2024 lawsuit that initially targeted only 333 recordings. This lawsuit marks a major escalation in the legal battle between the music industry and generative AI companies over copyright infringement. The outcome could establish critical legal precedents regarding the "fair use" doctrine and market licensing for AI training data. Sony Music countered Udio's "fair use" defense by arguing that Udio's late licensing attempts prove the existence of a viable market, meaning its unauthorized copying caused market harm. Sony also noted that the 30,000 recordings represent only a small fraction of the hundreds of thousands of infringed tracks it has identified.
## BACKGROUND
Generative music AI models, such as those developed by Udio, require vast amounts of audio data to learn patterns, styles, and structures to generate new music from text prompts. Major record labels have increasingly challenged AI developers in court, arguing that using copyrighted music for training without permission or compensation constitutes systemic copyright infringement.