Musicians Union Sues Universal, Warner Over AI Licenses

A major musicians' union has sued two of the world's largest record companies, alleging they licensed recordings for artificial intelligence training without compensating or crediting the session musicians who performed on them. The American Federation of Musicians filed the lawsuit against Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group on June 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The legal action centers on licensing deals and settlements that UMG and WMG struck with AI music generators Suno and Udio in late 2025. According to the union's complaint, these agreements triggered a "new use" provision in its collective bargaining agreement, which requires the labels to compensate members when their recorded work is put to a new commercial purpose. The union contends the labels have generated significant revenue from these AI deals while refusing to share that money with the musicians whose performances were used to train the AI models.

The complaint states that the labels licensed substantial portions of their music catalogs to the AI companies on both a retroactive and prospective basis and will earn ongoing revenue. It argues that while the companies...