AI Music News
Your independent source for AI music news and what each story means for music creators.
- 24 Jun
24 JunIndependent artists' Suno and Udio lawsuit adds the firm that beat Big Tobacco
- Hagens Berman, the firm that won a tobacco-industry settlement it values at $260 billion, joined the independent artists' class action against Suno and Udio.
- The firm filed an amended complaint against Udio on June 22, 2026 in New York, with Krystle Delgado of Delgado Entertainment Law remaining lead counsel.
- The artists' case, first filed in June 2025 by country musician Tony Justice, is separate from the major labels' RIAA lawsuits.
- 24 Jun
24 JunJamendo sues Nvidia, claiming it trained AI audio models on a research-only dataset
- Jamendo, the music licensing platform owned by Winamp Group, sued Nvidia on June 22, 2026 in California federal court over AI training.
- The suit claims Nvidia trained its Fugatto and Audio Flamingo audio models on the MTG-Jamendo research dataset, released for non-commercial use only.
- Jamendo seeks an injunction plus damages of no less than €17.8M (about $20.3M) and alleges Nvidia's infringement was willful.
- 24 Jun
24 JunTraxsource will label tracks human-made or AI-assisted, and remove fully-AI music
- Traxsource will add human-made and AI-assisted labels across its platform from July 1, 2026.
- It partnered with detection firms SH Labs and SoundPatrol to classify submissions; fully AI-generated tracks are flagged for removal.
- The move follows Traxsource's February 2026 statement that fully AI-generated music does not belong on the platform.
- 23 Jun
23 JunNearly 300 AI licensing deals are signed, but only 16% of indie labels are exploring them
- A BPI-commissioned WPI Economics report counts nearly 300 commercial AI agreements across creative sectors, with 274 in place by early 2026.
- Only 16% of BPI indie label members have begun exploring AI licensing partnerships, the report found.
- The Featured Artists Coalition cited the report on June 22, 2026 alongside the 31-organization open letter demanding consent in AI deals.
- 23 Jun
23 Jun31 creator organizations demand consent and fair pay before labels sign AI deals
- 31 organizations representing artists, songwriters, and managers signed an open letter on June 22, 2026, demanding consent, fair pay, and transparency in AI deals.
- The European Music Managers Alliance coordinated the letter, with the FAC, the Ivors Academy, and the MMF among the signatories.
- The letter responds to the AI deals labels have struck with Suno, Udio, KLAY, and Spotify, where artists say they are opted in by default.
- 23 Jun
23 JunSZA condemns AI music training after finding 238 of her tracks in a dataset
- SZA said 238 of her tracks appear in the giant datasets used to train AI music models, per a June 2026 report by The Atlantic's AI Watchdog.
- On her private Instagram, SZA called musicians who support unlicensed AI training "disgusting" and named Diplo, who has since denied her claim that he holds an equity stake in Suno.
- Her reaction follows The Atlantic's finding that more than 12 million tracks are being used in AI development without permission.
- 17 Jun
17 JunBoy George's AI 'Karma Chameleon', explained: how it was made and who owns it
- Boy George and Culture Club re-recorded "Karma Chameleon" using AI trained on the original 1983 recordings, timed to his 65th birthday.
- The track is an AI-assisted re-record, not a synthetic voice clone. George sang a new vocal that AI reshaped to match his younger voice.
- George never owned the master of "Karma Chameleon," so a roughly $4 million Virgin sync deal paid the rights holders, not him.
-
Free newsletter
Get this in your inbox — free
- AI Music Briefing — the week's biggest AI music news, the AI Music Lawsuit Tracker, and Music Intelligence.
- 1 tutorial every week — AI music promotion: from a 4-week song-release strategy to a music video in under 10 minutes.
- 16 Jun
16 JunThe Atlantic publishes 4 databases of songs used to train AI music models
- The Atlantic published 4 searchable databases of music used to train AI models, with 12 million tracks in one and 9 million in another.
- The data names hit songs from Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, and many other major artists.
- Suno has generated tracks that closely resemble Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You."
- 16 Jun
16 JunBoy George re-records 'Karma Chameleon' with AI to reclaim his biggest hit
- Boy George and Culture Club re-recorded "Karma Chameleon" with AI to recreate his original 1983 vocal, timed to his 65th birthday.
- The release launches Artist Included, co-founded by manager Paul Kemsley and attorney Jeremy Rosen, with Boy George as creative director.
- George says the motive is control, after a roughly $4 million Virgin sync deal paid the master owners and not him.
- 15 Jun
15 JunLate rapper Eyedea returns on a 14-song album built from AI-cloned vocals
- A new 14-song album, 15-Year-Old Shit Talking, recreates late rapper Eyedea's voice using AI vocal cloning and his own handwritten teenage lyrics.
- Eyedea's mother, Kathy Larsen Averill, saved the lyrics and recorded placeholder vocals to train the voice model, alongside rappers Ecid and Brady O'Rourke.
- Human producers made every beat, including DJ Willy Lose and Big Jess of Unknown Prophets, so the record is a reconstruction, not a fully synthetic album.
- 15 Jun
15 JunLionel Richie files 4 trademark applications to protect his voice from AI clones
- Lionel Richie filed four sound-mark trademark applications with the USPTO on June 11, 2026, each covering a snippet of his best-known lyrics.
- The marks cover the lines Hello is it me you're looking for, Say you say me, Easy like Sunday morning, and All night long, each described as a man saying the lyric.
- Richie joins Taylor Swift and Matthew McConaughey, who have filed voice and likeness trademarks as AI soundalikes spread.
- 12 Jun
12 JunClaude FM explained: Anthropic's 24/7 YouTube music stream, the /radio command, and the artists behind it
- Claude FM is a 24/7 lo-fi music stream on YouTube run by AI company Anthropic, broadcasting since May 9, 2026.
- The music is not AI-generated. Real artists are credited on screen, and the stream calls itself made and curated by musicians.
- Listeners open Claude FM from inside Claude Code by typing the /radio command, which launches the YouTube stream in their browser.