Sony sues Udio over 30,000 copyrighted songs

Sony Music Entertainment filed a lawsuit against Udio in New York on Monday, alleging that the AI music generator infringed the copyright of more than 30,000 songs. The list includes works ranging from Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog" to Beyoncé's "Say My Name" and Harry Styles' "As It Was." Sony claims the list represents only a portion of its works that Udio has infringed.

The new lawsuit stems from Sony's access to Udio's training data through the discovery process in a 2024 case that Sony filed alongside Universal Music Group and Warner Records. Using audio fingerprinting—a technique that identifies songs by their acoustic properties—Sony identified the more than 30,000 songs it believes Udio "copied and ingested into its generative AI models," including material from YouTube. When Sony originally requested that a judge add these 30,000 songs to the 2024 lawsuit, the judge rejected the motion, leaving the scope of that case at 333 works. Sony has now made the additional songs the subject of this separate lawsuit and indicated the company could expand it further.

Sony is asking the court to block Udio from infringing its copyrighted works and is seeking up to $150,000 per work infringed. The full list of contested songs is available in the court filing. Meanwhile, the music industry's response to Udio has diverged: Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, both co-plaintiffs in the original 2024 lawsuit, have settled with Udio and are now partnering with the company as the music industry embraces AI. Sony's continued legal action positions it as the sole major label maintaining an aggressive enforcement stance.

Sony's new lawsuit reflects a wider split in the music industry's approach to AI music generators. In the original 2024 case, Sony joined Universal Music Group and Warner Records in challenging both Udio and Suno. However, after a judge rejected Sony's request to include more than 30,000 additional songs in that original litigation, the company has pursued a separate filing to recover damages on those tracks. Meanwhile, Sony's former co-plaintiffs have moved in the opposite direction: both Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group have settled with Udio and now partner with the company, suggesting they have concluded that licensing agreements are more profitable than litigation. Sony's decision to continue enforcement—and its statement that the current 30,000-song list could be expanded—indicates the company is taking a harder line on copyright protection in the AI music space.