[REVISION HISTORY]

AI music copyright and publicity lawsuits expand

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2026-10-20 01:25 UTC → 2026-10-26 23:06 UTC · added ~~removed~~

Since June 2026, AI music generators have faced a wave of copyright actions. Belgian platform Jamendo sued Nvidia, while Sony Music, Universal, and Warner Music Group sued Udio for copying more than 30,000 recordings. In July, Sony filed a complaint in the Southern District of New York seeking damages of up to $150,000 per work. Thousands of independent musicians also joined class-action suits against Udio and Suno. On July 31, the Munich Regional Court ruled that Suno infringed copyright by using six protected songs for training without a license. This was reinforced on 10 August by a Munich ruling in favor of the German rights organization GEMA. In response to legal pressures, Suno has pursued licensing agreements with BMG, Warner Music Group, and Believe, launching its v6 suite of models in September. These v6 models utilize a revenue-sharing framework and opt-in licensing for artists. However, legal challenges have intensified. On 1 September, musicians led by Jason Isbell filed a class-action lawsuit in Massachusetts, alleging Suno misappropriates identities and ‘voiceprints’ through rights of publicity and biometric privacy violations. On 2 September, SOCAN filed a lawsuit alleging Suno’s outputs mimic Canadian artists like Avril Lavigne nearly ‘note-for-note and word-for-word’. On 15 September, SOCAN also alleged the unauthorized replication of works by artists such as Joni Mitchell and The Weeknd, seeking $10,000,000. In late September, Universal Music Group (UMG) sued ~~the~~ distributor DistroKid in Delaware, accusing it of enabling copyright ~~infringement. By 18 September, Universal~~ infringement by flooding platforms with AI-generated ‘slop’ and ~~Sony filed a joint lawsuit against Suno in Boston, alleging the v6 model is ‘fruit~~ counterfeiting recordings from ~~the same poisoned tree’, with potential damages of $9 billion. On 20 September, they filed a second suit alleging v6 was trained on 60,202 unauthorized recordings.~~ artists like Billie Eilish and Lady Gaga. Following ~~the~~ this, DistroKid ~~litigation, the distributor~~ removed some ~~songs,~~ recordings, prompting concerns from independent ~~artists.~~ artists whose legitimate music was reportedly deleted. Simultaneously, Sony and UMG filed joint lawsuits in Boston against Suno.

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