Sony Music Entertainment has taken legal action against Udio once again, this time accusing the AI music generator of infringing the copyright of over 30,000 songs. The list of allegedly infringed works includes a wide range of iconic tracks, from Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog" to Beyoncé's "Say My Name" and Harry Styles' "As It Was."
The New Lawsuit
The lawsuit was filed in a New York court on Monday. Sony asserts that the 30,000 songs represent "only a small portion of Plaintiffs' works that Udio infringed." The filing was first reported by Music Business Worldwide.
This legal action follows an earlier lawsuit from 2024, when Sony, along with Universal Music Group and Warner Records, sued both Udio and another AI music platform, Suno. During the discovery phase of that case, Sony gained access to Udio's training data. Using an "audio fingerprinting" technique, Sony claims it identified additional songs that Udio allegedly copied and used to train its generative AI models.
Previous Legal Efforts
Sony had previously attempted to add these 30,000 songs to the original lawsuit, but a judge rejected that motion. As a result, the scope of the original case remains limited to 333 works. Now, Sony has made the larger list the subject of a separate lawsuit, and the company says it could expand the case further.
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Sony alleges that Udio "admitted that its generative AI models were 'constructed by showing the program a vast amount of different kinds of sound recordings,'" including material sourced from YouTube. Since the initial lawsuit, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group have settled with Udio and are now partnering with the company as the music industry increasingly embraces AI technology.
The Full List and Demands
The complete list of songs Sony is suing over is available in the court filing. Sony is seeking a court order to block Udio from infringing its works. The company is also asking for damages of up to $150,000 per work infringed, which could amount to billions of dollars if the court finds in Sony's favor.
The lawsuit highlights the ongoing tension between the music industry and AI companies that use copyrighted material to train their models. While some major labels have chosen to partner with AI startups, Sony is taking a more aggressive legal stance.