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The music industry is coming for AI. A new lawsuit filed by the big three record labels - Universal, Sony and Warner - says their catalogs have been ripped off by two AI music generators. But there is a twist. It's not clear that the courts are on the side of record labels. NPR's Bobby Allyn explains why.
BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE: The two companies are Suno and Udio. Here's how they work. Type a description into a search box, and seconds later, you get an AI song. So if you type '70s pop into the search, you might get a song it calls "Prancing Queens."
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
AI-GENERATED VOICE #1: (Singing) You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only 17. Dancing queen. Feel...
ALLYN: Sure does sound a whole lot like Swedish pop group ABBA's 1976 hit "Dancing Queen," doesn't it?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DANCING QUEEN")
ABBA: You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only 17...
ALLYN: Artistic inspiration? - Mitch Glazier doesn't think so. He says, this is wholesale theft. He's the CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America. Along with major record labels, he's suing to try to put a stop to these services.
MITCH GLAZIER: This case is a basic copyright case. It's about two companies, Suno and Udio - took music made by other people without permission and without compensation and make money off of other people's work.
ALLYN: The AI companies wouldn't make anyone available for an interview, but in statements, they said the tools are not memorizing and regurgitating music. They say, OK, the music might reflect some ideas or themes similar to, say, ABBA, but it's something new entirely. The case is about two sides focusing on different things. The music industry says, focus on the music that was copied, the input. And the AI companies say, focus on the new thing the tools are spitting out, the output.
RICHARD BUSCH: It's not a clear-cut case. I mean, I don't think the people claiming infringement have a clear-cut victory here.
ALLYN: That's Richard Busch. He's a big deal in the copyright world. He's a lawyer who won a multi-million-dollar case against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams over their 2013 song "Blurred Lines" for illegally copying Marvin Gaye. He's devoted his life to going after artists who have ripped others off. But he thinks the AI companies here might actually have an argument.
BUSCH: How is this different than a human brain listening to music and then creating something that is not infringing but is influenced by what the human brain hears?
ALLYN: Busch says both sides of the copyright debate, the input and the output, will be important when hashing this out. I asked Glazier with the recording industry to point to an AI song that best sums up the case, and he said Jason Derulo, who is known in the R&B world for his so-called tags at the beginning of songs. He gives his own name a shoutout, like this.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHATCHA SAY")
JASON DERULO: (Singing) Jason Derulo.
ALLYN: The AI tools banned searches that specifically name artists. But if you type in contemporary R&B, male singer, soaring ballads, catchy dance pop, you hear, well...
AI-GENERATED VOICE #2: (Singing) Jason Derulo.
GLAZIER: You can hear Jason Derulo's tag in the output. So pretty convincing proof that the company actually did copy the song without permission.
ALLYN: And Glazier with the recording industry says there are many hundreds of other examples. The suit asks for up to $150,000 per infringed song, so if they win, it could add up fast. And the recording industry has something of a playbook for this kind of case. It helped bring down music-file-sharing service Napster. Nearly 25 years later, AI is a new enemy. Busch, the music copyright lawyer, says, he thinks with time, both sides will reach some kind of deal before this goes to trial.
BUSCH: Every single time there's new technology, this is what happens. Everyone gets up in arms. Everyone says, this is the end of the world. And then everyone says, wait a second. There's a way for everybody to make money.
ALLYN: Take streaming services like Spotify. The record industry once resisted it. Now streaming music has pushed music industry profits to new highs. Bobby Allyn, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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