Record Labels Face Lawsuit From Musicians’ Union Over AI Licensing

The largest union of instrumental musicians in the world, known as the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), in Manhattan federal court on Friday, filed a lawsuit against Warner Music Group (WMG) and Universal Music Group (UMG) for allegedly licensing its members’ work to tech companies for AI training without the artists’ consent.

The complaint alleges that the major record labels violated their collective bargaining agreement by terminating lucrative licensing agreements for artificial intelligence without paying or giving credit to the session musicians whose work was utilized.

The court was informed by the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada that the labels’ agreements on copyright issues with AI music generators Suno and Udio improperly permitted the companies to use the recordings of their members without paying them.

The union has two primary grievances against the record labels.

First, the labels have withheld critical information. According to the complaint filed in a Manhattan federal court, the labels refuse to tell the union which specific song catalogues were handed over for AI model training. They also will not disclose whose instrumental recordings were used.

Second, the union claims the labels are profiting alone. The record companies have safely guarded their own financial interests. They have secured massive new revenue streams from AI licensing. However, the union says the labels have completely locked out the human artists who created the source audio.

And due to the labels’ alleged breach of their labour contract, AFM requested in court an undisclosed sum of money in damages.

A spokesperson for Universal Music said that the company has “been at the forefront of protecting the rights and advancing the interests of artists ​and songwriters in the age of AI striking responsible AI licensing agreements to ensure they are ⁠compensated, leading the charge for legislation to further protect them and taking legal action against bad actors.” The spokeswoman stated, “We will continue to strive to resolve any difficulties through these negotiations, as we have in the past. The AFM selected this course during our collective bargaining negotiations.

However, requests for comment on the allegation were not immediately answered by Warner or the union’s representatives available at that moment. Also, requests for comment were not immediately answered by representatives for Suno and Udio present, who are not defendants in the lawsuit.

In 2024, the labels and Sony Music filed a lawsuit against Udio and Suno, claiming that the AI businesses had illegally duplicated their songs in order to train their systems to produce music that would “directly compete with, cheapen, and ultimately drown out” human musicians. These instances are part of a growing number of lawsuits filed by copyright holders against tech corporations for exploiting their content in AI training without their consent.

The legal disputes between Warner and Universal and Udio were resolved last year. Warner and Suno reached a settlement last year, but Universal’s lawsuit against Suno is still pending. The AI businesses will be able to incorporate licensed music from the labels into their models as a result of the settlements.

Sony Music is not mentioned in AFM’s complaint and has not reached a settlement with either business. In its lawsuit, AFM, an AFL-CIO affiliate, claimed that Warner and Universal had breached their labor agreement by permitting the AI companies to do “exactly” what the labels “warned about: training AI models to generate supposedly ‘new’ sound recordings derived from music ingested into their models.

The lawsuit stated that the defendants have refused to compensate the musicians whose work, created with their own instruments and through their talent, creativity, and hard work, is fed into AI machines for profit, while they have protected their own interests and created a significant source of new revenue with the retrospective settlements and prospective licenses.”

Warner Music Group Corp. v. American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:26-cv-04760.

Below are the responses from the record labels. 

Universal Music Group responded through a company spokesperson. The spokesperson stated that UMG has consistently been at the forefront of protecting artist interests in the age of AI. UMG expressed disappointment that the AFM chose litigation. The company would have preferred resolving the issue through their ongoing collective bargaining negotiations.

Warner Music Group also responded to the lawsuit. A corporate representative echoed UMG’s disappointment. The representative called the union’s lawsuit an “unproductive action.” At the same time, WMG expressed a desire to resume scheduled contract negotiations. The company maintains that it is establishing fair guardrails to architect a healthy AI ecosystem.

It is also notable that Sony Music Entertainment was omitted from this specific lawsuit. The reason is that Sony has not announced settlement or licensing agreements with Suno or Udio. This puts Sony in a different position than UMG and Warner Music Group. Unlike its competitors, Sony continues to litigate against Suno and Udio.