Musicians have been left out of deals between major record labels and artificial intelligence companies, a new lawsuit alleges.
The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM), which has 70,000 members, said Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group “received significant compensation” from AI companies for past copyright violations and licensed them “substantial” portions of their music catalogs, but have not shared that with musicians.
UMG and WMG sued AI companies Udio and Suno in 2024, accusing them of copyright infringement. Both companies reached an agreement with Udio last year. In November, WMG announced a partnership with Suno, but Universal Music Group's lawsuit against Suno is pending.
“While defendants have protected their own interests and created a significant source of new revenue from retrospective agreements and potential licenses, they have refused to compensate musicians whose work, created on their own instruments and through their talent, creativity and hard work, is fed into artificial intelligence machines for profit,” AFM said in its lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in New York on Friday.
AFM said it believes the AI agreements fall under the “new use” provision of its collective bargaining agreements, which requires music companies to notify the union of new licenses for purposes not covered by the contract and compensate musicians whose work was used to train AI models.
UMG and WMG said in statements that they are in negotiations for a collective agreement with AFM.
“Warner Music Group is increasing the value of music by setting barriers and designing a healthy AI ecosystem on behalf of artists around the world,” the company said in a statement.
Universal Music Group said it will continue to work to resolve issues during negotiations.
“Universal Music Group has been at the forefront of protecting the rights and advancing the interests of artists and songwriters in the age of AI: striking responsible AI licensing deals to ensure they are compensated, leading the fight for legislation that further protects them, and taking legal action against bad actors,” the company said in a statement.
“We look forward to continuing our strong working relationship with the AFM based on mutual respect for the talented musicians in our industry.”
AI has become more popular among consumers, dramatically changing the landscape of the entertainment industry. Many startups have emerged that allow users to type text messages into artificial intelligence systems to generate original songs, video clips, and stories.
Some creatives say AI tools help them brainstorm or illustrate bold ideas on a limited budget. But critics have raised concerns about whether AI systems are trained on copyrighted works without permission or payment to artists. Others worry that AI could destroy their livelihoods.
Udio said it would create a new platform that would train authorized and licensed music and that artists would have the chance to participate. Suno agreed to change its platform, launch new licensed models and impose download restrictions.
Bradford Auerbach, a partner at the OGC law firm, said he expects to see more such lawsuits filed by unions.
“Unions always protect the status quo, so we have this invariable conflict of new technology coming in and moving the cheese for a lot of people who were used to their businesses being set up the way they were,” Auerbach said.
