One thing that generative AI is generating, in seemingly limitless quantities, is legal news. That’s true even when the topic is narrowed to AI and music.
Deepfakes of familiar artists have grabbed attention. So has the AI slop flooding streaming platforms. Plus the big moves that major record labels and AI companies are making whose aftershocks reverberate across the music industry, from startup launches to litigation and licensing agreements.
A comparatively underexamined topic is what independent musicians can do about it.
A lot of music-makers lack the resources of the power players of the music and tech businesses, and they aren’t sure how to address their own concerns about AI. That includes the prospect of their music being used to train AI models without permission.
More than one piece of federal legislation in the works may eventually provide protections, including the COPIED Act, the TRAIN Act and the CLEAR Act, and those who want to see them become law can voice support.
There are also two class action lawsuits proceeding on behalf of independent musicians. Those are against each of the leading AI music companies: Suno and Udio.
Rather than placing TV ads to get the word out when her firm filed the lawsuits last summer, the lead attorney at Delgado Entertainment Law, Krystle Delgado, used her YouTube channel, vigorously.
“Suno and Udio committed copyright infringement, and now they owe you money,” she emphasized in her clip. “But independent artists whose rights were trampled the most have been left without a seat at the table. That changes today.”
In the video, the sound effect of a judge banging a gavel punctuates the promise.
In June, when The Atlantic published its investigation into vast collections of music AI companies might have accessed for training purposes, the number of artists participating in the lawsuits doubled in 72 hours. Plaintiffs now number in the thousands, and it’s still possible to sign up at indieailawsuit.com.
Hagens Berman, a larger firm known for class action cases, has also joined the legal team.
Why new revelations about the training of AI music models hit close to home
Major labels Sony, Warner and Universal have pursued their own lawsuits against Suno and Udio, without getting the AI companies to disclose their training data. But that’s exactly what the class action attorneys are working towards. Being able to search that data and find their plaintiff’s work included in it is essential to proving the artists deserve compensation.
“So now here’s the ‘stop everything and pay attention’ really good news,” Delgado underscored in another video on her channel. “If you get on the plaintiff list for our lawsuits, I will be searching Suno and Udio’s databases for your songs.”
First the federal courts will have to compel the companies to release that information. That could happen in the coming months, since the Udio suit is moving towards the discovery phase.
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