{"id":7883,"date":"2025-09-20T01:45:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T01:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/ai-company-pirated-youtube-songs-record-labels-say\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T01:45:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T01:45:04","slug":"ai-company-pirated-youtube-songs-record-labels-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/ai-company-pirated-youtube-songs-record-labels-say\/","title":{"rendered":"AI Company Pirated YouTube Songs, Record Labels Say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<span>T<\/span>he major record labels are hitting AI music giant Suno with a new legal claim for allegedly scraping their songs from YouTube, taking a cue from Anthropic\u2019s recent $1.5 billion copyright settlement while citing an exclusive <em>Billboard<\/em> report on mass piracy in AI training.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tUniversal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment have been working together for over a year to pursue copyright infringement litigation against both Suno and Udio, the other major player in the fast-growing world of AI music, for allegedly feeding unlicensed songs into their models to train the machines. \u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"injected-related-story \/\/ lrv-u-align-items-center u-align-items-flex-start@mobile-max  lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest  lrv-u-flex lrv-u-flex-direction-column@mobile-max u-width-710@desktop lrv-u-margin-lr-auto lrv-u-margin-tb-1 u-margin-b-250@mobile-max u-margin-t-275@mobile-max u-margin-t-250@desktop u-margin-b-250@desktop u-margin-lr-n1@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-1 lrv-u-border-color-brand-secondary-dark lrv-u-border-t-1 lrv-u-padding-tb-1  lrv-u-padding-tb-1@mobile-max lrv-u-padding-r-1@mobile-max lrv-u-padding-l-00@mobile-max u-grid-gap-18@desktop u-grid-gap-0@mobile-max\">\n<h3 id=\"title-of-a-story\" class=\"c-title  a-article-related-module-title a-article-related-module-title--color-brand-primary a-font-accent-xl u-font-weight-800 u-letter-spacing-0179 u-line-height-normal lrv-u-color-grey-dark bb-pro-related-stories-label lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<div class=\"injected-related-story-wrapper lrv-u-flex lrv-u-justify-content-space-between  a-children-border-vertical a-children-border--grey a-children-border-width-050\">\n<div class=\"o-card  lrv-u-width-100p\">\n<div class=\"o-card__image-wrap lrv-u-flex-shrink-0 u-width-191 u-width-150@mobile-max\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image   lrv-u-margin-b-00@mobile-max u-width-130px@mobile-max lrv-u-margin-b-00@mobile-max\">\n<div class=\"a-crop-6x4 a-crop-3x2@mobile-max\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe labels are now moving to add a piracy claim to the lawsuit against Suno, writing in Friday (Sept. 19) court filings that they\u2019ve recently confirmed the AI company illegally downloaded its training music from YouTube via a piracy method known as \u201cstream-ripping.\u201d The proposed amended complaint cites an exclusive <em>Billboard <\/em>report from this month that revealed the existence of private datasets demonstrating how both Suno and Udio scraped music from the internet on a massive scale. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAccording to the complaint, stream-ripping violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by circumventing YouTube encryption measures specifically designed to hinder downloads. The labels\u2019 new proposed claims seek the maximum damages for this alleged violation: $2,500 for each act of piracy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cSuno\u2019s circumvention of YouTube\u2019s technological measures has facilitated Suno\u2019s ongoing and mass-scale infringement of Plaintiffs\u2019 copyrights through its unauthorized use of the Universal works, the Sony works and the Warner works in its training data,\u201d the amended complaint reads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tOn behalf of the labels, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said in a statement on Friday that Suno \u201chas\u00a0gone to great lengths to hide whether\u00a0its AI models were trained on copyrighted music and how those works were obtained.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cAnd yet, Suno has continued a game of deception because\u00a0it\u00a0knew its conduct\u00a0was illegal,\u201d added the RIAA.<\/p>\n<div class=\"injected-related-story \/\/ lrv-u-align-items-center u-align-items-flex-start@mobile-max  lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest  lrv-u-flex lrv-u-flex-direction-column@mobile-max u-width-710@desktop lrv-u-margin-lr-auto lrv-u-margin-tb-1 u-margin-b-250@mobile-max u-margin-t-275@mobile-max u-margin-t-250@desktop u-margin-b-250@desktop u-margin-lr-n1@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-1 lrv-u-border-color-brand-secondary-dark lrv-u-border-t-1 lrv-u-padding-tb-1  lrv-u-padding-tb-1@mobile-max lrv-u-padding-r-1@mobile-max lrv-u-padding-l-00@mobile-max u-grid-gap-18@desktop u-grid-gap-0@mobile-max\">\n<h3 id=\"title-of-a-story\" class=\"c-title  a-article-related-module-title a-article-related-module-title--color-brand-primary a-font-accent-xl u-font-weight-800 u-letter-spacing-0179 u-line-height-normal lrv-u-color-grey-dark bb-pro-related-stories-label lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<div class=\"injected-related-story-wrapper lrv-u-flex lrv-u-justify-content-space-between  a-children-border-vertical a-children-border--grey a-children-border-width-050\">\n<div class=\"o-card  lrv-u-width-100p\">\n<div class=\"o-card__image-wrap lrv-u-flex-shrink-0 u-width-191 u-width-150@mobile-max\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image   lrv-u-margin-b-00@mobile-max u-width-130px@mobile-max lrv-u-margin-b-00@mobile-max\">\n<div class=\"a-crop-6x4 a-crop-3x2@mobile-max\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/anthropic-logo-phone-2024-billboard-1800.jpg?w=237&amp;h=147&amp;crop=1\" alt=\"The Anthropic AI logo appears on the screen of a smartphone, in Reno, United States, on December 2, 2024. (Photo by Jaque Silva\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\" srcset=\"\" data-lazy-sizes=\"auto\" height=\"\" width=\"\" title=\"\"><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tReps for Suno did not immediately return a request for comment on the proposed amended complaint on Friday. The labels have not yet made any moves toward filing this type of piracy claim against Udio.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe proposed amendment comes in the wake of AI company Anthropic agreeing to pay $1.5 billion to authors for building its central library out of pirated books. Like the record labels, many AI copyright litigants have recently been working to shore up their lawsuits with new piracy claims, including music publishers that are suing Anthropic over song lyrics in AI training.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe newfound focus on piracy can be traced to this past June, when the judge overseeing the book authors\u2019 lawsuit against Anthropic, Judge William Alsup in California, ruled that the company would be held liable for storing pirated books. Anthropic settled rather than face trial over damages, though it remains to be seen whether Judge Alsup will approve the $1.5 billion deal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tHowever, Judge Alsup held in his June ruling that it\u2019s not illegal for Anthropic to train its chatbot Claude on copyrighted books. The judge said training amounts to fair use: a foundational tenet of copyright law that allows protected works to be recycled for \u201ctransformative\u201d purposes, like news reporting or parody.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tWhether or not AI training constitutes fair use is a hotly contested question that\u2019s currently being litigated in dozens of copyright lawsuits across the country, including in the record labels\u2019 case. Suno and Udio insist that training their AI music machines on existing songs is transformative, and both companies are expected to present these arguments to judges after the discovery process concludes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubpass.co\/billboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/2HpFicp.png\" alt=\"Billboard VIP Pass\" style=\"max-width: 100%;height: auto\" title=\"\"><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The major record labels are hitting AI music giant Suno with a new legal claim for allegedly scraping their songs from YouTube, taking a cue from Anthropic\u2019s recent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[413,1423,3678,178,3790,2988],"class_list":["post-7883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-company","tag-labels","tag-pirated","tag-record","tag-songs","tag-youtube"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}