Demanding Our Share: Why the AFM Is Suing Universal, Warner, and Atlantic

August 31, 2026

On June 5, the AFM filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York against Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group, later adding Atlantic Recording Corp. The lawsuit alleges that these recording companies violated their collective bargaining agreement with the AFM, the Sound Recording Labor Agreement (SRLA), by licensing their music catalogs to AI companies Suno and Udio without compensating the musicians who performed on the licensed recordings or notifying the AFM.

Suno and Udio operate platforms that permit users to generate music, including vocals and instrumentation, by simply describing what they want to hear. Udio also permits users to market AI-generated recordings made on its platform on streaming platforms like Spotify.

In 2024, these same record companies sued Suno and Udio for copyright infringement, accusing them of scraping copyrighted music without authorization to train their AI models and to generate new music. In those lawsuits, the record companies warned that AI-generated music risked “replacing the work of human artists” and “overrunning the market for human-made recordings.” They described how these AI platforms could produce music evoking the sound, feel, and musical characteristics of iconic recordings, like Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” and James Browns’ “I Got You (I Feel Good)” and others.

Despite those warnings, the record companies settled with the AI companies (Universal only settled with Udio, while Warner and Atlantic settled with both Suno and Udio), licensing their music catalogs for AI training and music generation and receiving compensation both for licensing and for past copyright violations. The musicians who performed on the licensed recordings received nothing.

The AFM’s lawsuit seeks to fix that failure. Under the SRLA’s new use provision, when music produced under the agreement is licensed for a purpose different from its original one, the AFM must be notified and the musicians compensated. For instance, a musician who performs on a symphonic recording or a pop song that is later used in a TV commercial or a video game is entitled to new use compensation under the SRLA.

The AFM argues that licensing recordings for AI-training and AI-generated music is exactly this kind of new use, and that the record companies owe musicians compensation and owe the AFM information about the licensing deals. The record companies claim they have no obligation to compensate musicians whose recordings were used to train AI models or generate music, and no obligation to share any licensing information with the AFM.