Major record labels have launched a fierce legal offensive against AI music startups Suno and Udio, accusing the companies of illegally “stream-ripping” thousands of copyrighted songs from YouTube to train their artificial intelligence models.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), representing Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group, has intensified its legal pursuit by updating complaints to include violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act‘s anti-circumvention provisions.
Legal battle escalates as RIAA strengthens claims against AI startups with DMCA anti-circumvention violations.
Stream-ripping, the process of converting streamed music into downloadable files while bypassing platform controls, sits at the heart of the controversy. The labels allege both startups deliberately circumvented YouTube’s technological protection measures, including its rolling cipher system, to extract copyrighted audio without authorization or licensing agreements.
This method reportedly enabled the companies to amass extensive training datasets containing millions of protected recordings. The lawsuits specify numerous high-profile tracks allegedly misappropriated, including works by Mariah Carey, The Temptations, and Green Day.
Record companies claim to have identified AI-generated outputs resembling these protected works, which they present as evidence of unauthorized data use.
Suno, however, has mounted a defense based on fair use doctrine, arguing that its utilization of copyrighted music for AI training purposes qualifies as transformative under U.S. copyright law. This legal battle could potentially result in billions in liabilities for the AI startups due to statutory damages reaching up to $150,000 per infringed work.
While not denying the stream-ripping allegations directly, the company contends that circumventing YouTube’s protections isn’t inherently illegal under the DMCA. Some federal courts have recently recognized AI training as potential fair use, though judicial consensus remains elusive.
The record labels’ position is supported by collecting societies worldwide, which are responsible for ensuring songwriters and composers receive royalties when their works are publicly performed or reproduced.
These legal battles highlight growing tensions between technological innovation and intellectual property rights in the music industry. The controversy challenges established distribution channels that many independent artists rely on to monetize and protect their creative works through platforms like Spotify and SoundCloud.
The outcomes could greatly shape the future landscape of AI music generation, potentially establishing precedents for data acquisition practices.
As the litigation progresses, both sides face substantial stakes – the record labels seeking to protect valuable copyrights, and AI startups defending their technical approaches to developing generative music technology.
The landscape has become more complex with Suno also facing a class-action lawsuit led by country musician Tony Justice with similar stream-ripping allegations.
