Sony Music sues Udio again, claiming infringement of 30,000 tracks to train AI

Sony Music has filed another lawsuit against AI music start-up Udio, this time claiming the infringement of more than 30,000 tracks to train its AI models, Music Business Worldwide (MBW) reports.

It follows a June 2024 lawsuit brought against Udio by Sony Music, Universal Music and Warner Music, which claimed that the AI company had used thousands of copyrighted recordings to train both Udio and its competitor Suno’s tools.

Now, Sony – alongside nine affiliated labels – claim in a new lawsuit filed on Monday, July 20, that it has inspected Udio’s training data to discover that some 30,117 audio recordings have been illegally copied.

Get in The Mix: Shop the Mixmag range here 

In the complaint, which was obtained by MBW, the labels claim that Udio "concealed the contents of its training data", and that it "copied the key expressive features of copyrighted sound recordings".

Music from artists including Michael Jackson, Harry Styles, Britney Spears and Beyoncé was allegedly copied by Udio, though the labels claim that the 30,000+ works used are just a "small portion" of the recordings it has allegedly infringed.

Read this next: Warner Music asks court to throw out musicians' union lawsuit over AI deal

It follows a ruling in June by the same court, which saw a judge deny Sony’s efforts to add the thousands of tracks it claims were infringed into its existing case filed back in 2024.

"At its core, this case is about ensuring that copyright continues to incentivise human invention and imagination, as it has for centuries," the suit reads.

"Achieving this end does not require stunting technological innovation, but it does require that Udio adhere to copyright law and respect the creators whose works allow it to function in the first place."

Read the full suit via Music Business Worldwide here.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Associate Digital Editor