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The American Federation of Musicians (AFM), a union for session musicians, is suing Universal Music Group (UMG) and Warner Music Group (WMG) for breaching their collective bargaining agreement over use of their music by AI programs. In the lawsuit filed on Friday (June 5), AFM claim that the major labels’ recent licensing training with Suno and Udio, two prominent AI music companies, have not been sharing proceeds with the union, as required in their agreement to compensate members for “new uses” of their music.
“The AFM brings this lawsuit because defendants, two of the largest music companies in the world, have licensed sound recordings on which AFM-represented musicians have worked, without compensation or credit, to two AI companies,” reads the lawsuit. “At the same time, they have refused to provide information to the AFM about which recordings and whose work is being licensed.”
It continues: “While the defendants protected their own interests and created a significant source of new revenue with the retrospective settlements and prospective licenses, they have refused to compensate the musicians whose work — created with their own instruments and through their talent, creativity, and hard work – is fed into AI machines for profit.”
This stems back to 2024 when UMG and WMG—along with Sony Music Entertainment—sued Suno and Udio, alleging the companies illegally trained their AI models on millions of copyrighted recordings. By the fall of 2025, both record labels struck deals with the company, allowing them to train a new model on licensed work and claiming that artists and songwriters would be compensated if they choose to opt in to AI deals, and would retain “full control” over how their music, likeness, and other copyrights are used.
In statements to Billboard, a UMG spokesperson claims the label has a “strong working relationship with the AFM built on mutual respect for the talented musicians in our industry” and will “resolve any issues through [the bargaining] negotiations.” Meanwhile, a WMG spokesperson told Billboard that their label was “disappointed by the AFM’s unproductive action amid our ongoing negotiations,” but “looked forward” to continuing the conversation.
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