UMG & Sony Demand DistroKid Tell How Many AI Songs It Uploads From Suno: ‘Staggering Scale’
The music giants are ratcheting up the pressure on the huge DIY distributor with a new legal filing that blames it for enabling a “flood” of AI songs.
Universal Music Group and Sony Music are demanding that music distribution service DistroKid reveal how many AI-generated songs it uploads to streaming services each month. The music industry giants argue that this information is crucial evidence in their ongoing legal dispute with AI music company Suno. In a new legal action filed on October 14, UMG and Sony accuse DistroKid of being a major conduit for AI-generated recordings flooding the streaming market.
The filing seeks a subpoena for internal metrics from DistroKid about the number of AI songs it uploads. UMG and Sony claim DistroKid has refused to provide any document in response. They argue that DistroKid's AI-detection results are direct evidence of the flood of machine-generated recordings that compete with human-created works.
The labels' case against Suno has been ongoing, with Suno accused of stealing millions of songs to train its AI models to create new songs. Last month, UMG filed a lawsuit against DistroKid, alleging that the distributor was enabling the upload of "AI-generated slop" that was polluting the listening experience. In their latest filing in Manhattan federal court, UMG and Sony argue that DistroKid is the only source of relevant evidence regarding the scale of AI-generated music reaching digital platforms.
The labels claim that DistroKid admits to tracking AI usage in uploaded songs, making it essential in Suno's defense of fair use, which depends on whether the flood of AI-generated music is harming the market for human-created recordings.
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