Universal Music Group has signed a deal with artificial intelligence music generator Udio as part of a settlement for a copyright dispute, the companies said Wednesday.
The agreement will see Udio launch a new platform next year trained on licensed songs, reports The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.
The new subscription-based service will allow fans to create music, including remixes and customised tracks, based on licensed songs from Universal’s artists. Universal artists must grant permission for their music to be included, and any user-generated songs must remain within the Udio platform.
Artists and songwriters who opt in will be paid for music used for training the model and will also be compensated when subscribers use their songs to create new works. The legal settlement also included compensation.
“These new agreements with Udio demonstrate our commitment to do what’s right by our artists and songwriters,” said Lucian Grainge, chief executive officer of Universal Music.
Music scraped from the internet
Universal, along with Sony Music Group and Warner Music Group, sued Udio and another AI platform, Suno, last year. The lawsuit alleged the startups used copyrighted music scraped from the internet to train their generative AI models.
Financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Udio CEO Andrew Sanchez said it is important to protect artists by keeping creations within the platform. “We want to be able to control that environment really well,” Sanchez said.
Udio’s existing product will remain available until the new launch but will be controlled within a walled garden, and the service will be amended to include fingerprinting, filtering, and other measures.
