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Case: UMG Recordings, Inc. et al. v. Suno, Inc., No. 1:24-cv-11611 (D. Mass.) · UMG Recordings, Inc. et al. v. Uncharted Labs, Inc. (d/b/a Udio), No. 1:24-cv-04777 (S.D.N.Y.)
In June 2024, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group — coordinated through the RIAA — filed parallel copyright infringement suits against AI music generators Suno and Udio, alleging the companies built their models by training on the labels' copyrighted master recordings without a license. The complaints sought statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work.
Two years later, the case looks nothing like it did at filing. Warner Music Group settled with Udio and, weeks later, became the first major label to settle with Suno, in a deal that also saw Suno acquire Warner's concert-discovery platform Songkick. Universal followed with its own Udio settlement in October 2025, pairing the deal with a licensing partnership for a new AI music platform slated to launch in 2026. Sony has not settled with either company, and remains an active plaintiff against both Suno and Udio — making Sony's continued litigation the closest thing left to a bellwether for how a US court will treat AI training on sound recordings under a full fair-use analysis.
The settlements have generated their own satellite disputes. After Warner exited the Suno case, UMG and Sony sought discovery into the terms of Warner's settlement, arguing it was relevant to how the remaining claims should be valued. Suno resisted, and in an order following a March 12, 2026 conference, Magistrate Judge Paul Levenson sided with Suno, reasoning that a private settlement has little bearing on how to value or characterize the market for the underlying works. UMG and Sony have since objected to that ruling, and Suno filed its response defending the magistrate's decision on May 4, 2026.
A second front opened in June 2026, when the American Federation of Musicians sued UMG and Warner Music Group in the Southern District of New York, arguing that the labels' settlement and licensing deals with Suno and Udio triggered a "new use" compensation clause in the union's collective bargaining agreement — and that the labels pocketed settlement and licensing revenue without sharing it with the session musicians who played on the recordings at issue. Warner has pushed back, telling the court in a July 10, 2026 letter that the union's suit represents an improper attempt to gain leverage in an ongoing labor negotiation rather than a genuine legal claim, and has requested a pre-motion conference ahead of a formal motion to dismiss.
For rights holders watching this case, the throughline is that settlement doesn't end the legal exposure — it can relocate it. The labels' deals with Suno and Udio resolved the direct infringement claims but immediately raised a second question that courts are now being asked to answer: who is entitled to share in the value created when a settlement effectively licenses an artist's or musician's work to an AI platform after the fact.
Source reporting: This summary draws on ongoing coverage by Music Business Worldwide, including its reporting on the AFM lawsuit and the discovery dispute over the Warner-Suno settlement terms.
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