Sony is escalating its legal battle over AI-generated music. In 2024, the company joined Universal Music Group and Warner Records in suing Udio and rival AI music platform Suno, accusing the services of using copyrighted recordings to build their generative AI models. During the discovery process, Sony says it reviewed Udio’s training materials and, using audio fingerprinting technology, identified many more tracks it believes were involved. The label then sought permission to add more than 30,000 songs it claimed Udio had “copied and ingested into its generative AI models,” but the court denied that request, keeping the original case limited to 333 works.
Those 30,000-plus songs are now at the center of a fresh Sony lawsuit against Udio, and the company says the case may grow further. According to Sony, Udio acknowledged that its generative AI systems were “constructed by showing the program a vast amount of different kinds of sound recordings,” with material allegedly including audio sourced from YouTube. The new filing comes as the wider music business continues to navigate artificial intelligence: Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group have already reached settlements with Udio and have moved into partnerships with the AI music company.
The complete list of songs Sony is citing in its latest claim against Udio is included in the court filing. Sony is seeking an order preventing Udio from infringing its copyrighted works, along with statutory damages of as much as $150,000 for each work allegedly infringed.
