As part of a settlement with UMG (Universal), Udio, an AI-powered generative music service, has disabled downloads of all Udio creations, both past and present. The change applies to audio, video and stems.

Changes to the terms of service (ToS) also prohibit Udio users from uploading, sharing, publishing or distributing content created using Udio.

On Wednesday, Universal and Udio announced that they had reached a 'compensatory legal settlement', as well as new licensing agreements for recorded music and publishing, which will 'provide further revenue opportunities' for the record label's artists and songwriters.

This is the first deal since Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group sued Udio and Suno, another AI song generator, for copyright infringement last year.

Suno and Udio claimed that their use of copyrighted material for training their AIs falls under the principle of fair use.

 

Thank you for the verdict, more verdicts will follow, the court upheld existing copyright law, a good day for artists/musicians.

 

I'm sure they'll appeal...
Pay attention for that 'principle of fair use' they claimed... If this 'concept' gets through it's a danger for us artists.

 

Last edited: Oct 31, 2025 at 11:57 AM

There's no appeal when the parties have reached a settlement. At least when it comes to Udio, if the info in the OP is correct, it's over.

And that is great f'n news for artists, musicians, songwriters, and others!!! Not so great for those who want to push AI generative music as if it's actually creating something of their own.

 

The settlement is for the past not for the future...
Do you really think they'll give up millions of dollars that easily?

 

UMG is also working on an AI model right now
it doesn't seem like they're against AI music
they're simply fighting for the money
Anybody knows if there's been any efforts to benefit actual musicians??

At least it should slow down the AI madness, anybody heard recent suno outputs?
I thought some of the songs were really good, in mixing and production. voice still sucks

well hopefully the quality of the material these models are now trained on, isn't so good
They probably had all of Serban's portfolio used in their models! now its UMG's AI turn

Maybe the whole AI music thing will be left as an experimental tool for those who're looking to mess around

 

This isn't a matter of belief—it's a matter of the courts.

We already have an AI bubble because the expectations of companies and
investors aren't being met; in short, AI isn't generating enough cash.

 

Probably only "background" music might be in danger, anything where you never wonder whos behind the piece, but that alone won't be enough to keep AI music as a business

Half of the equation is having the artist, so unless they convince mainstream artists to use AI instrumentals, they won't see much money coming in...

For now, most musicians will stick to what works, producers and engineers they always work with, people that understand eachother.
Billie Eilish won't drop his brother Finneas for an AI on her next album, because Finneas has proven massive success everytime
With AI, there's no such guarantee.

Its like the Black Mirror director who tried to use ChatGPT, and said it was a really bad copy of his show.
Problem with AI is that it can't create new stuff, it never will. Nothing it makes is complex.

I saw people complaining that Suno would generate very similar tracks, no matter how many times they generated the prompt.
Like transposing your song +2 semitones and calling it new
Suno can sound VERY good quality, and that really scared me, but that doesn't really mean its good.

No song out there has blown up twice, there's no "Shake It Off - Part 2"
Those artists who try the same formula usually flop
So essentially even if AI can make something VERY VERY GOOD, it will be repeated by 100k more users
And then the value is lost for that sound
Producers do copy producers but its never as bad as Suno doing the same thing twice

 

A few questions: Some AI users are lazy, some are just looking for the thrill, others are curious, and some, like Suno, see AI as a toy. But will they pay for it in the long run? Will these AI business models be sustainable? Will they earn enough money to keep their businesses afloat? What about the legal situation? Do these companies have enough money to fight the lawsuits in court?

 

oh I see, one step closer to greedy AGI (actually generating income),
it's funny to see how AI hypers are surprisingly pissed off being denied results of copyright infringement processings,
what was the saying... "you'll pay for owning nothing and you'll be happy"

as always, fuck subscriptions and fuck clouds

 

that's a 5T (trillion) $$ question for today

 

What I see on their page is that they "partnered" with UGM (maybe they own them now). Donwloads are there as usual. Is the sentence only appicable on the US?

 

Did you try actually downloading though?

Per https://www.udio.com/blog/a-new-era :

 

No idea how to write a song, tired of thinking for yourself, struggling to learn new things? Come to us! We have the AI that will transform your pathetic existence into that of a gifted musician in seconds. Please pay 24 per month for 10 songs.

With your new CD, which you can then burn yourself and play for your family and friends, you'll be celebrated like a star. See, that's the point: too stupid to make your own music? We'll help you! No prior knowledge required.

The AI is like a giant kitchen blender. It throws in everything from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s, a bit of jazz, disco, punk, hardcore, and runs the random generator from the winning recipe: 128 BPM - 3 minutes 20 seconds. After a few minutes, you'll hear something new!

I came up with this myself - please transfer 20 chocolate coins to my Bitcoin account. Thank you!

 

@PulseWave it's actually way more disturbing, we're heading into future more like "No idea how to live, tired of thinking for killing yourself, struggling to die? Come to us! We have the AI that will transform your pathetic existence into mediocre emotional music loop. Please pay 24 per month for 10 songs."
I know it sounds way too grim, but seeing how people are already falling for psychotic chatbot doctors, it's actually very probable to happen

 

Remember, this is only concerning Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group. The Titanic is sinking, the wealthy are in the life boats while the huddled masses are locked down below the waterline.

 

A little freely available (and free) AI music detector program would defuse 90%+ of the whole thing. Like those counterfeit detector pens they have for fake paper money.

Their average generative-AI user will say they do not care if it's obviously AI-generated music, until that happens. When it does, the sudden lack of interest in using generative-AI will illustrate how honest that actually is.

 

Yep, donwload are disabled. hahaha

They are "preparing themselves" to be fucked by another motherfucker. We peasants still will be fucked by both.

 

"Partnership" is a new way of saying someone else effectively owns your company now?

 

this was not settled in the courts. It was an agreement met between UMG and Udio. There are still ongoing lawsuits. The matter of "fair use" has not been resolved. It doesnt seem that Suno is backing down either. They have launched a counter-suit, claiming the labels conspired against them to try and force them out of business. Theres still a lot up in the air, and it could really go either way. Personally, i would love for all of them to be held accountable, and forced to pay any rights holders of any songs they used for training, but that won't happen. I would also like for these sort of "tools" to exist, just "ethically" trained, with royalties in place for generations.

This is no victory for independents, artists etc either way. Its just another victory for the heavy hitters.