Two class action lawsuits are in the works against two major AI companies, Udio and Suno, on behalf of independent artists. Lawyers at Delgado Entertainment Law and Hagens Berman have urged indie artists to get involved in the lawsuits. This will mean major support for musicians and songwriters who have had their work stolen to train generative AI models.
While federal legislation is in the works to protect artists from AI exploitation, the lawsuits are a potentially quicker route. There’s no timeline on when these proposed acts could become law. And it seems that generative AI is creating more concern for artists by the day.
This is a big deal for independent artists in particular, who might not have the extra funds to hire a personal legal team. Krystle Delgado of Delgado Entertainment Law has been using her YouTube channel to get these artists’ attention.
“Suno and Udio committed copyright infringement, and now they owe you money,” Delgado said in one clip, per a report from WPLN. “But independent artists whose rights were trampled the most have been left without a seat at the table. That changes today.”
Class Action Suits Want AI Company’s Databases of Exploited Artists Disclosed
Artists can join the class action suit at the website indieailawsuit.com, set up by Krystle Delgado’s firm. Her video is featured front and center, declaring the call to action. The description names several music industry figures like producers, DJs, critics, and songwriters who have joined the lawsuit already. Additionally, there are at least 1,300 others involved.
“We stand united not against AI itself, but against corporations that have built AI systems on stolen music without consent or compensation,” the website reads. It also notes that “independent music creators are the first to be exploited and the last to be protected.”
Universal Music Group and Sony Music are already involved in a lawsuit against Suno for copyright infringement. This came after the AI company admitted to scraping “publicly available” songs to train its technology. But, as the website states, that doesn’t include independent artists. And it’s very likely that the majority of those publicly available songs were the property of indie artists.
The big label lawsuits also fall short of demanding that Suno and Udio disclose the data they mined to train their AI. This is exactly what the class action suits are aiming to do.
With the database of artists revealed, lawyers are one step closer to securing protections for those without the backing of a major label. At the very least, they would be compensated for the unlawful use of their music.
Photo by Rob Monk/Future Music Magazine/Future via Getty Images
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