London, England. Photo Credit: SALEH
The AFM’s lawsuit against Universal Music and Warner Music is now one component of “a global fight,” as the UK’s Musicians’ Union has backed the litigation and urged other unions yet to “take on major corporations who intend to exploit their rights without consent.”
The Musicians’ Union today voiced support for the high-stakes suit, which set sail one week ago. As DMN was first to report, the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) has accused the defendant majors of contract violations stemming from an alleged failure to cut union musicians in on Suno and Udio licensing revenue.
The way the AFM sees things, AI training and authorized outputs constitute “new uses” under the relevant labor agreement. Consequently, members who contributed to the now-licensed recordings are entitled to a piece of the settlement and derivative-work pies, according to the plaintiff.
(On the settlement front, Warner Music is the lone major that’s ceased suing Suno, which is still locking horns with Universal Music and Sony Music. The latter major hasn’t reached a resolution with Udio and therefore isn’t named in the AFM’s action.)
Out of the gate, we noted the possibility of subsequent suits centering on tie-ups with different artificial intelligence players. And while these complaints may well be in the cards, more immediately, gen AI licensing deals are likewise materializing in the UK without “consent or compensation,” according to Musicians’ Union (MU) general secretary Naomi Pohl.
As described by Pohl, members who contributed to recording sessions “had no expectation” that their efforts would ultimately factor into AI training.
“In the UK,” she said, “major rightsholders are entering into deals granting the right to train AI models on our members’ works, recordings and performances, without any transparency or agreement with the UK MU.
“In most cases, when our members entered into agreements or took part in recording sessions, they had no expectation that they could be used to train AI and generate music that will compete against their own,” continued the Musicians’ Union vet of about 17 years.
Furthermore, the gen AI dealmaking trend reflects rightsholders’ “lack of respect for the human creators and performers they claim to ‘represent,’” according to Pohl.
Notably, despite these pressing concerns, the general secretary stopped short of expressly confirming plans to sue over the allegedly unauthorized artificial intelligence deals.
(Of course, various organizations find themselves in the same corner amid the broader fight for gen AI compensation – especially across the pond, where PRS, the BPI, the MU, the Association of Independent Music, and several others last year united under the UK Music banner when opposing an “opt-out” approach to training.)
Nevertheless, as initially mentioned, the MU head did frame the situation as “a global fight” while urging different unions to “take on major corporations who intend to exploit their rights without consent or compensation.”
“When labels’ rights are exploited without their consent or negotiated compensation, they will fight tooth and nail in the courts. However, they don’t expect us to do the same when our members’ rights are infringed,” Pohl concluded.