Sony Music Sues Udio Over 30,000 AI Training Tracks
After a judge capped its original lawsuit at 333 songs, Sony Music filed a separate case claiming $150,000 per track, even as peers strike licensing deals.
Sony Music Entertainment has filed a new federal lawsuit against artificial intelligence startup Udio, alleging copyright infringement across more than 30,000 sound recordings. The catalog includes tracks from Elvis Presley, Beyoncé, Jefferson Airplane, Kings of Leon, ZZ Top, and Harry Styles.
The dispute traces back to 2024, when Sony, Universal Music, and Warner Music launched legal action against both Udio and rival music generator Suno. During court-ordered discovery, Sony gained access to Udio's training data. Using proprietary detection software designed to flag training ingestion, the label identified tens of thousands of additional recordings.
When Sony moved to fold those 30,000 songs into the pending case, the presiding judge rejected the motion, keeping the initial trial limited to 333 explicitly listed tracks. Rather than abandon the broader claims, Sony launched an entirely separate action.
The move highlights an industry split. Both Universal Music and Warner Music have settled their claims with Udio and opted for commercial partnerships. Sony, by contrast, is demanding statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work alongside an injunction. According to the filing, Udio conceded that its models were built by exposing software to vast libraries of recorded audio, including material pulled from YouTube.
Source: habr
Court filing: DocumentCloud
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