Sony Music Files New Lawsuit Against Udio Over 30,117 Recordings

Sony Music Entertainment filed a new lawsuit against AI music generator Udio in a New York court on Monday over the unauthorized use of 30,117 recordings to train the company's models, including tracks by Alicia Keys, Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, Beyoncé, Bob Dylan, Britney Spears, and Michael Jackson.

Sony identified the additional songs through audio fingerprinting after obtaining access to Udio's training data during discovery in the prior case.

Sony accused Udio of obtaining the recordings by ripping audio from YouTube. Udio has admitted using YouTube data for training but maintained that the practice qualifies as fair use. On June 29, a court rejected Sony's request to add the 30,117 works to its 2024 complaint while affirming plaintiffs' rights to pursue damages for all infringed copyrights.

Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group joined Sony in the original 2024 suit but later reached licensing deals with Udio. Warner described its agreement as a potential new income stream for artists who opt in. Sony stated that Udio's licensing arrangements underscore the unlawfulness of copying recordings without permission from the start.

The scope of the original lawsuit remains 333 works.

The company is requesting a jury trial and statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work.