Universal Music Group Settles Major AI Lawsuit With Udio After Song Theft Claims
UMG's settlement with Udio ends the company's involvement in one of the most high-profile copyright infringement lawsuits in the music industry.
Universal Music Group is settling its copyright infringement lawsuit against AI music generation platform Udio, the companies confirmed late Wednesday night, with the two companies saying they’d now be collaborating to develop new AI music generation and streaming platform.
UMG and Udio didn’t provide any financial details of the settlement but said the new platform would come out sometime in 2026 and would be trained on licensed music from UMG’s catalog. UMG is the world’s largest music company, with a roster that includes stars like Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Billie Eilish and Sabrina Carpenter among others.
The deal ends UMG’s involvement in one of the most high-profile lawsuits in the music industry, coming over a year after Universal sued AI music generators Suno and Udio alongside fellow “Big Three” music companies Sony Music Group and Warner Music Group. The record companies accused the two AI platforms of massive copyright infringement by training their models on millions of unlicensed works from their catalogs. At press time, Sony and Warner are still litigating against Udio. All three companies remain in active litigation against Suno.
In a press release, UMG and Udio said the new subscription service would “transform the user engagement experience, creating a licensed and protected environment to customize, stream and share music responsibly.”