What happened
Warner Music Group (WMG) settled its copyright infringement lawsuit with AI music platform Udio, concurrently entering a licensing agreement. This enables Udio to launch a licensed AI music creation service in 2026, allowing users to create remixes, covers, and original songs utilising participating WMG artists' voices and compositions. The platform, powered by generative AI models trained on licensed music, ensures artists receive credit and compensation. The agreement spans WMG's recorded music and music publishing, with Udio implementing audio fingerprinting and content filtering for rights safeguarding.
Why it matters
This agreement introduces a new operational constraint by shifting direct control over the use of WMG artists' intellectual property to a third-party platform, Udio. While Udio implements audio fingerprinting and content filtering, this creates a visibility gap regarding the real-time application and efficacy of these safeguards. Consequently, compliance and legal teams face increased due diligence requirements for monitoring adherence to licensing terms and ensuring accurate artist credit and compensation within Udio's AI-driven creation environment.
