The association representing major record labels has sued two services that allowed users to create songs from descriptive text.
One of the most remarkable tricks of ChatGPT is its ability to generate text from a description. Just provide a few details, and this artificial intelligence can write nearly an entire book based on them.
Tools like DALL-E or Imagen perform similar feats with images and photographs, and something like this is also possible with music. Recent advancements in artificial intelligence have made it so that a brief text can enable AI to create a song, complete with lyrics, in any style or genre.
The music industry, however, is not pleased with this concept, and the RIAA, the American organization representing the major labels, has decided to sue the two most popular services, Suno and Udio. These platforms have already generated viral hits that circulate on social media, often mimicking the styles of human artists.
This is where the issue lies. According to the RIAA, these platforms are copying and remixing content from various artists without permission. “These are direct cases of copyright infringement involving the unauthorized large-scale copying of sound recordings,” explains the RIAA’s legal director, Ken Doroshow.
As is the case with other generative AI systems, for Suno or Udio to create new music, they must have “listened” to thousands of songs across a variety of genres beforehand. The use of this material without permission is a cornerstone of the RIAA’s lawsuit.
Both Suno and Udio assert that their systems are designed to generate entirely new songs, without remixing or reusing parts of existing tracks. They argue that this process is no different from that of a musician who begins to compose after having listened to various styles of music throughout their life.
However, the RIAA has managed to produce virtually identical songs to existing hits in the market by fine-tuning the descriptions fed to these generative engines.
Among the examples, the RIAA managed to create an almost exact copy of the song “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by artist Mariah Carey, featuring nearly the same lyrics and melody, using only a brief description.
In other instances, the RIAA was able to generate very similar versions with only slight modifications or songs with entirely different lyrics where the melody is clearly identical to that of a famous track.
The RIAA is seeking compensation of up to $150,000 (approximately €140,000) for each song used to train these tools without the relevant rights. Beyond financial compensation, the lawsuit could also serve as a legal foundation to define the rights and protections surrounding creations from generative AI engines and who can commercially exploit them.
