{"id":2124962,"date":"2025-10-30T15:35:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T15:35:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2124962"},"modified":"2025-10-30T15:35:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T15:35:16","slug":"universal-music-and-ai-song-tool-udio-settle-lawsuit-and-partner-on-new-platform-sparking-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/universal-music-and-ai-song-tool-udio-settle-lawsuit-and-partner-on-new-platform-sparking-backlash\/","title":{"rendered":"Universal Music and AI song tool Udio settle lawsuit and partner on new platform, sparking backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<div class=\"column eleven-column byline-section\">\n<p><span class=\"author\"\/><span class=\"publication\"><span slot=\"bylineInfo\" class=\"authors\">Kelvin Chan<\/span><br \/>\n<span slot=\"bylineInfo\" class=\"credit\">\u00a0|\u00a0 Associated Press<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>London<\/em> \u2014 Universal Music Group and AI song generation platform Udio have settled a copyright infringement lawsuit and agreed to team up on new music creation and streaming platform, the two companies said in a joint announcement.<\/p>\n<partner-banner util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" class=\"spacer-large\" min-height=\"600\" fluid=\"\" outstream=\"\" momentum=\"\"\/>\n<p>Universal and Udio said Wednesday that they reached a \u201ccompensatory legal settlement\u201d as well as new licensing agreements for recorded music and publishing that will &#8220;provide further revenue opportunities&#8221; for the record label&#8217;s artists and songwriters.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the deal, Udio immediately stopped allowing people to download songs they\u2019ve created, which sparked a backlash and apparent exodus among paying users.<\/p>\n<p>The deal is the first since Universal, along with Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Records, sued Udio and another AI song generator, Suno, last year over copyright infringement.<\/p>\n<partner-banner util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" fluid=\"\" bottom=\"\" lazy=\"\" class=\"spacer-large\" min-height=\"390\" outstream=\"\"\/>\n<p>\u201cThese new agreements with Udio demonstrate our commitment to do what\u2019s right by our artists and songwriters, whether that means embracing new technologies, developing new business models, diversifying revenue streams or beyond,&#8221; Universal CEO Lucian Grainge said.<\/p>\n<p>Financial terms of the settlement weren&#8217;t disclosed.<\/p>\n<p>Universal announced another AI deal on Thursday, saying it was teaming up with Stability AI to develop \u201cnext-generation professional music creation tools.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Udio and Suno pioneered AI song generation technology, which can spit out new songs based on prompts typed into a chatbot-style text box. Users, who don&#8217;t need musical talent, can merely request a tune in the style of, for example, classic rock, 1980s synth-pop or West Coast rap.<\/p>\n<p>Udio and Universal, which counts Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar among its artists, said the new AI subscription service will debut next year.<\/p>\n<partner-banner util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" fluid=\"\" bottom=\"\" lazy=\"\" class=\"spacer-large\" min-height=\"600\" outstream=\"\" momentum=\"\"\/><partner-inline util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" class=\"spacer-large\" placement=\"native-article_link\" sizes=\"[[300, 250], [3, 3]]\" min-height=\"250\" fluid=\"\" outstream=\"\"\/>\n<p>Udio CEO Andrew Sanchez said in a blog post that people will be able to use it to remix their favorite songs or mashup different tunes or song styles. Artists will be able to give permission for how their music can be used, he said.<\/p>\n<p>However, \u201cdownloads from the platform will be unavailable,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>AI songs made on Udio will be \u201ccontrolled within a walled garden\u201d as part of the transition to the new service, the two companies said in their joint announcement.<\/p>\n<partner-inline util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" placement=\"native-article_link\" sizes=\"[[300, 250], [3, 3]]\" min-height=\"250\" fluid=\"\" outstream=\"\"\/>\n<p>The move angered Udio\u2019s users, according to posts on Reddit\u2019s Udio forum, where they vented about feeling betrayed by the platform&#8217;s surprise move and complained that it limited what they could do with their music.<\/p>\n<p>One user accused Universal of taking away \u201cour democratic download freedoms.\u201d Another said &#8220;Udio can never be trusted again.&#8221;<\/p>\n<partner-banner util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" fluid=\"\" bottom=\"\" lazy=\"\" class=\"spacer-large\" min-height=\"390\" outstream=\"\"\/>\n<p>Many vowed to cancel their subscriptions for Udio, which has a free level as well as premium plans that come with more features.<\/p>\n<p>The deal shows how the rise of AI song generation tools like Udio has disrupted the $20 billion music streaming industry. Record labels accuse the platforms of exploiting the recorded works of artists without compensating them.<\/p>\n<p>The tools have fueled debate over AI\u2019s role in music while raising fears about \u201cAI slop\u201d \u2014 automatically generated, low quality mass produced content \u2014 highlighted by the rise of fictitious bands passing for real artists.<\/p>\n<p>In its lawsuit filed against Udio last year, Universal alleged that specific AI-generated songs made on Udio closely resembled Universal-owned classics like Frank Sinatra\u2019s \u201cMy Way,\u201d The Temptations\u2019 \u201cMy Girl\u201d and holiday favorites like \u201cRockin&#8217; Around the Christmas Tree\u201d and \u201cJingle Bell Rock.\u201d<\/p>\n<partner-banner util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" fluid=\"\" bottom=\"\" lazy=\"\" class=\"spacer-large\" min-height=\"390\" outstream=\"\"\/>\n<p>In the \u201cMy Girl\u201d example, a written prompt on Udio that asked for \u201cmy tempting 1964 girl smokey sing hitsville soul pop\u201d generated a song with a \u201cvery similar melody, the same chords, and very similar backing vocals\u201d as the hit song co-written by Smokey Robinson and recorded by The Temptations in 1964, according to the lawsuit. A link to the AI-generated song on Udio now says \u201cTrack not found.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>AP Technology Writer Matt O&#8217;Brien in Providence, Rhode Island contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<lit-timestamp class=\"column ten-column no-gutter spacer-small\" slot=\"timestamp\" publishdate=\"2025-10-30 14:14:20.445601231 +0000 UTC\" updatedate=\"2025-10-30 14:14:28.753073354 +0000 UTC\"\/><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.detroitnews.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kelvin Chan \u00a0|\u00a0 Associated Press London \u2014 Universal Music Group and AI song generation platform Udio have settled a copyright infringement lawsuit and agreed to team up on new music creation and streaming platform, the two companies said in a joint announcement. Universal and Udio said Wednesday that they reached a \u201ccompensatory legal settlement\u201d as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2124963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[39915,28769,356974,344480,22220,21941,21796,389691,23038,25425,23427,403663,344612,6297,21741,22043,22270,403662,351952,349524,378641,37703,368111,21739,298114,21800,344613,360386,74947,21738,39661,25675,239343,239420,31765,27784,86850,58502,344611,29634,29633,23084,239344,30360,403664],"class_list":["post-2124962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-affiliate","tag-and","tag-artificial","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-arts","tag-audio","tag-business","tag-business-and-finance","tag-company","tag-company-news","tag-detroit","tag-detroit-news-music","tag-downloads","tag-eamotion","tag-entertainment","tag-finance","tag-industry","tag-intellectual","tag-intellectual-property","tag-intelligence","tag-kendrick","tag-kendrick-lamar","tag-lamar","tag-local","tag-local-affiliate-arts-u0026-entertainment","tag-music","tag-music-streams-u0026-downloads","tag-music-u0026-audio","tag-negative","tag-news","tag-olivia","tag-olivia-rodrigo","tag-overall","tag-overall-negative","tag-property","tag-recording","tag-recording-industry","tag-rodrigo","tag-streams","tag-swift","tag-taylor","tag-taylor-swift","tag-u0026","tag-universal","tag-universal-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Universal-Music-and-AI-song-tool-Udio-settle-lawsuit-and.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2124962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2124964,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124962\/revisions\/2124964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2124963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2124962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2124962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2124962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}