Recording industry giant Universal Music Group (UMG) announced Thursday that it has reached a licensing agreement with AI music-generation startup Udio, marking an industry-first partnership to launch a licensed AI music creation platform next year.
In a joint statement, the companies said the upcoming platform — yet to be named — “will be powered by cutting-edge generative AI technology trained exclusively on authorized and licensed music.”
The announcement also revealed that both parties have settled an outstanding copyright infringement lawsuit, though the financial terms were not disclosed.
The deal comes amid growing tensions between the creative industries and artificial intelligence developers, as artists, writers, and musicians express concern that AI models trained on vast libraries of human-made works could eventually replace them. Music platforms have already reported a surge in AI-generated songs flooding their systems.
AI firms such as OpenAI, Udio, and rival startup Suno have previously faced accusations from major record labels of using copyrighted songs to “train” AI systems capable of mimicking human artists. Rights holders have demanded greater transparency, licensing agreements, and revenue guarantees to protect their work.
Last month, John Phelan, head of the International Confederation of Music Publishers (ICMP), described such unlicensed data use as “the largest copyright infringement exercise ever seen.” In June 2024, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued both Udio and Suno over similar allegations.
UMG Chief Executive Lucian Grainge said Thursday’s deal represents a step toward “a healthy commercial AI ecosystem in which artists, songwriters, music companies, and technology firms can all flourish.”
Broader negotiations between music rights holders and tech companies over AI licensing frameworks are still ongoing.
AFP
