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Three Major Labels Sue Two Powerful AI Music Firms

Suno and Udio have both made headlines for their ease in generating music, and the latter led to one of the most notorious pieces of AI music: Metro Boomin's Drake diss track 'BBL Drizzy.'

The art for King Willonius's original 'BBL Drizzy,' later sampled by Metro Boomin.

The art for King Willonius's original 'BBL Drizzy,' later sampled by Metro Boomin.

The 'Big Three' major labels are coming together to challenge two powerful AI music firms.

Billboard Pro reports that Sony Music, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group are filing lawsuits against Suno and Udio — two of the most advanced players in the young field of generative AI.


Spearheaded by the Recording Association of America (RIAA), the lawsuits allege that the companies have unlawfully copied labels' sound recordings to train their generative AI music models.

“Building and operating [these services] requires at the outset copying and ingesting massive amounts of data to ‘train’ a software ‘model’ to generate outputs,” the lawyers for the major labels explain. “For [these services], this process involved copying decades worth of the world’s most popular sound recordings and then ingesting those copies [to] generate outputs that imitate the qualities of genuine human sound recordings.”

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Udio has already produced one of the most notorious pieces of AI music, Metro Boomin's Drake diss track beat "BBL Drizzy." The track was a remix of an AI-generated beat. Later used by Drake himself, it actually created a precedent for how samples using AI are cleared.

Suno, called "A ChatGPT For Music" in a much talked about Rolling Stone article, launched in late 2023 and already has raised $125 million in funding.

The lawsuit aims to bar the companies from continuing to train on copyrighted songs and damages from the infringements that have allegedly already taken place.

As AI continues to evolve quickly, it's a flashpoint in the music industry. While some companies have tried to get ahead and use the technology in a responsible way, others are looking to curb murky copyright grey areas before they become the standard.

The results of these lawsuits could have big implications, but they likely won't be the last.

Read more here.

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Alexisonfire
Vanessa Heins
Alexisonfire
FYI

New & Upcoming Album Releases:  Alexisonfire Cover the Tragically Hip on Upcoming '90s CanRock Covers Record

This week also sees new releases from Amy Millan, AV & The Inner City and more.

Taylor Swift dominates headlines this week with her new album The Life of a Showgirl, but there are more new releases worth your attention as well.

Amy Millan has found indie rock acclaim via Stars and Broken Social Scene. She released her first solo album in over 16 years, I Went To Find You, back in the spring, to enthusiastic response. This week, she put out I Went To Find You (Redux), a four-track add-on EP comprising fresh takes on four of the original album's singles. These are described as having an autumnal vibe, "with a contextual, sonic vibe closely associated with Millan's first two albums, Honey From the Tombs (2006), and Masters of The Burial (2009)." The new cuts feature guest members of Bahamas and Zeus on various instruments, vocals, and production. Millan began a solo North American tour this week, and it will feature shows in Montreal, Ottawa, Lake County, B.C. and Vancouver.

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