The American Federation of Musicians filed suit against Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group on June 5, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging the two labels licensed recordings by union musicians to AI music generators Suno and Udio without paying or crediting the performers as their collective bargaining agreement requires. The AFM lawsuit against UMG and Warner, docketed as Case No. 1:26-cv-04760, turns on a decades-old contract clause that obligates labels to notify the union and compensate musicians whenever a recording is put to a commercial use the original session did not cover.1Music Business Worldwide. Musicians Union Sues UMG and Warner Music Alleging Member Recordings Were Licensed to Suno and Udio Without Compensation or Credit2Music Business Worldwide. AFM vs Warner UMG Complaint
The New Use Clause at the Center of the Case
Article 21 of the AFM’s Sound Recording Labor Agreement covers what happens when a label reuses old recordings for something the original contract did not anticipate. When a company uses a recording produced under any of the agreements since January 1954 for a “purpose not covered by this Agreement,” it must pay participating musicians an amount equal to all payments that would have been required if the recording had originally been made for that purpose. The company also has to notify the union’s contracts administrator, identifying the recordings involved and the intended new use.3American Federation of Musicians. Sound Recording Labor Agreement
The AFM says feeding those recordings into generative AI systems is exactly that kind of new use. According to the complaint, the labels received “significant compensation” from AI companies for past copyright violations and licensed “substantial” portions of their catalogs for both retroactive and prospective AI model training, then created a significant new revenue stream while refusing to share any of the proceeds with the musicians whose work made the recordings possible.4Los Angeles Times. American Federation of Musicians Sues Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group The complaint alleges the labels are “allowing those same AI companies to use the work of AFM-represented musicians to do exactly what they warned about: Training AI models to generate supposedly ‘new’ sound recordings.”5The Hollywood Reporter. Musicians Union Lawsuit AI Song Generator Settlement
The union also says the labels have refused to disclose which specific recordings and whose performances went into the AI training sets.1Music Business Worldwide. Musicians Union Sues UMG and Warner Music Alleging Member Recordings Were Licensed to Suno and Udio Without Compensation or Credit
What the AFM Wants From the Court
The union is seeking unspecified monetary damages and a court order compelling UMG and Warner to reveal which recordings were fed into the AI models. The AFM is represented by attorney Eyad Asad of Cohen, Weiss and Simon, a New York firm that specializes in labor union work.1Music Business Worldwide. Musicians Union Sues UMG and Warner Music Alleging Member Recordings Were Licensed to Suno and Udio Without Compensation or Credit6Cohen, Weiss and Simon LLP. Eyad Asad
Two things stand out about the remedies. The damages figure is open, tied by the contract itself to whatever the musicians would have been paid had the recordings originally been made for AI training purposes. And the disclosure demand matters independently of the money: without knowing which recordings were licensed and to whom, the union cannot identify the specific musicians owed under Article 21.
The Label Settlements That Set This Off
The suit follows a rapid sequence of deals struck in late 2025 between the major labels and the two AI music startups they had previously sued.
UMG announced a settlement and strategic partnership with Udio on October 29, 2025, resolving copyright infringement litigation the label had filed alongside other majors in 2024. The agreement covered UMG’s recorded music and publishing catalogs and included a commitment to launch a new, authorized AI music creation platform in 2026, with artists required to individually opt in.7Universal Music Group. Universal Music Group and Udio Announce Strategic Agreements for New Licensed AI Music Creation Platform8Billboard. UMG Udio AI Deal FAQ
Warner followed with its own Udio partnership in mid-November 2025, then became the first major label to settle with Suno on November 25, 2025. The Suno deal included an unusual non-cash component: Warner sold its concert-discovery platform Songkick to Suno as part of the arrangement. Financial terms for all of these settlements remain undisclosed, and Suno is fighting in court to keep its deal terms confidential.9TechCrunch. Warner Music Signs Deal With AI Music Startup Suno, Settles Lawsuit10Music Business Worldwide. Suno Fights to Keep Warner Music Settlement Terms Away From UMG and Sony
From the AFM’s perspective, the recordings that gave the labels leverage in those negotiations were made by union musicians, and none of the settlement money has flowed through to them.
How UMG and Warner Are Responding
Both labels have framed the suit as an interruption to ongoing negotiations rather than a challenge on the merits. A UMG spokesperson said the company is at the “forefront of protecting the rights and advancing the interests of artists” through its AI licensing agreements and expects to resolve any issues through the collective bargaining process. Warner expressed disappointment at what it called the AFM’s “unproductive action amid our ongoing negotiations” and said it intended to resume talks as scheduled.5The Hollywood Reporter. Musicians Union Lawsuit AI Song Generator Settlement
Neither company has publicly disputed that musicians have not yet been paid from the AI deals. AFM President Tino Gagliardi described AI in December 2025 as a “shared, existential threat to the profession” and said negotiations over consent, compensation, and credit for the use of musicians’ recordings in machine learning would be a “centerpiece” of the union’s contract talks with the major labels.11International Musician. Coalition and Contracts: AFM Works to Combat AI and Protect Musicians The decision to sue rather than continue waiting suggests the union sees the missed payments and lack of disclosure as a contract breach that cannot be deferred to the bargaining calendar.
Where This Fits Alongside Other Music-AI Litigation
The AFM’s claim is a contract dispute between a union and record labels, not a copyright infringement case against Suno or Udio. That distinction matters, because the copyright question is being litigated separately and on a very different timeline.
Sony Music Group did not settle with either AI company and remains in active litigation against both. Sony’s cases are expected to produce a pivotal fair-use ruling in the summer of 2026 that could determine whether training generative AI on copyrighted recordings without a license constitutes infringement. In late May 2026, Sony and UMG filed a motion to add more than 61,000 copyrighted recordings to their case against Suno after discovery revealed Suno’s models had been trained on “millions” of copyrighted works, and Sony also moved to add more than 30,000 works to its pending case against Udio.12Music Business Worldwide. UMG and Sony Seek to Add 61,000 Copyrighted Works to Suno Lawsuit
Independent musicians have opened a third front. In October 2025, a group of independent artists filed separate class-action lawsuits against both Suno and Udio, alleging their copyrighted works were used for AI training without authorization. The case against Suno, Woulard v. Suno, Inc., was filed in the Northern District of Illinois and remains active, with a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction under advisement.13CourtListener. Woulard v. Suno, Inc. The Woulard v. Udio complaint argues that while major label litigation focuses on “high-value catalogs of popular artists,” independent musicians face “significant and unequal harm” because they lack the bargaining power and financial protections of the majors.14Loevy & Loevy. Woulard v. Udio Complaint
The AFM case runs on its own track. Whether Sony wins or loses on fair use in the coming months, the union’s argument is not that Suno and Udio infringed copyrights. It is that UMG and Warner made money licensing recordings covered by an AFM contract and owe the musicians their share.