Background
In 2024, the major labels sued AI music generators Suno and Udio alleging massive copyright infringement — that the platforms had trained their models on copyrighted master recordings without permission.
By late 2025, the labels had quietly settled:
- UMG settled with Udio in October 2025
- Warner Music Group settled with Udio in November 2025
- Warner Music Group settled with Suno in December 2025
Now the American Federation of Musicians — the union representing the performing musicians whose recordings were actually fed into those AI models — says the labels collected the money and the licensing deals, but the musicians got nothing.
The complaint filed June 5, 2026 alleges UMG and Warner are violating their collective bargaining agreements with the union by excluding the performers from the financial arrangements stemming from the AI settlements.
Why It Matters
This is the first major union challenge to the major-label AI playbook. The labels have been moving fast to cut deals with AI music platforms, positioning themselves as licensors of the training data. But the union's argument is straightforward: the musicians made the recordings. If the recordings are valuable enough to license to AI, the musicians who made them are entitled to share.
If the AFM wins, it forces a structural change in how every AI-music settlement going forward has to be carved up — the labels can no longer treat session musicians and featured artists as bystanders to deals built on their work.
The Core Question
The labels owned the master recordings. The musicians played them. When an AI ingests those recordings to learn how to make new music, who’s entitled to the money? The corporate copyright owner alone — or the labor that created the underlying performance? That’s the question this case puts in front of a federal judge.
Label Responses
Warner Music Group said negotiations with the AFM remain ongoing.
Universal Music Group indicated it expects to continue working through collective bargaining discussions with the union.
Neither label denied the underlying claim — that the AI settlements happened and the musicians weren’t cut in.