Sony sues AI music generator Udio for alleged copyright infringement of over 30,000 songs

Sony Music Entertainment has filed a lawsuit in a New York court accusing Udio, an AI music generator, of infringing the copyright of more than 30,000 songs. The works cited range from Elvis Presley’s *Hound Dog* to Beyoncé’s *Say My Name* and Harry Styles’ *As It Was*. Sony alleges that Udio copied and ingested these recordings into its generative AI models.

The lawsuit follows a 2024 filing by Sony, Universal Music Group, and Warner Records against Udio and Suno, another AI music-maker. During discovery, Sony says it used an “audio fingerprinting” technique to identify additional songs that Udio allegedly trained on. A judge previously rejected Sony’s request to add more than 30,000 songs to the original lawsuit, which had initially covered 333 works.

Sony claims Udio admitted that its generative AI models were “constructed by showing the program a vast amount of different kinds of sound recordings,” including content sourced from YouTube. The company is now pursuing a new lawsuit centered on the expanded list of songs and says it may further expand the scope.

Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group have since settled with Udio and are now partnering with the company, reflecting a shift in the music industry’s approach to AI collaborations despite ongoing legal challenges.