The Labels Sued AI Companies For Stealing Music. Then They Licensed It To Them Without Paying Artists.
The major record labels spent 2024 filing lawsuits against AI music companies, accusing them of stealing artists' work. Universal, Warner, and Sony all claimed to be defending musicians from exploitation. Then in late 2025, two of those same labels quietly settled with the AI companies they had sued, signing lucrative licensing deals. The musicians who actually performed on those recordings? They got nothing.
The Lawsuit That Exposes Everything
In June 2026, the American Federation of Musicians filed suit against Universal Music Group and Warner Music. The allegation is brutally simple: the labels licensed recordings made by union musicians to Suno and Udio, the same AI companies they had accused of theft, without compensating or even notifying the artists who made the music. Universal settled with Udio in October 2025. Warner settled with both platforms the following month. Both labels received settlement payments and ongoing revenue from these deals. The session musicians, the vocalists, the players whose performances created the catalog value being licensed? They saw none of it.
They Protected Their Position, Not Artists
One headline summarizing the situation put it perfectly: "The major labels did not protect artists from AI. They protected their own position inside AI." This is not a bug in the system. This is the system working exactly as designed. When the labels sued AI companies, they framed it as defense of creators. What they were actually defending was their monopoly on the recordings. The moment it became more profitable to license than to litigate, they switched sides and kept the money. The artists whose labor and talent made the music valuable were never part of the conversation. They were not consulted. They were not compensated. They were not credited. Their performances were simply treated as raw material the labels owned outright.
What This Means For Every Working Artist
If you are waiting for institutions to protect you from AI exploitation, this case should clarify your position. The institutions will protect themselves. They will negotiate deals that benefit their bottom line. They will use your work as leverage and keep the proceeds. The only protection that actually works is the protection you build yourself. Direct relationships with collectors. Your own audience. Your own platforms. Your own voice. The artists suing Universal and Warner right now are not waiting for someone to advocate for them. They are advocating for themselves. That is the only model that has ever worked.
What would you do if you discovered someone had licensed your work to an AI company without telling you?
Like I submitted consignment of my paintings to an art buyer. She became one who sells art work as a result of gaining visa and entry t America. Well, She asked for more consignments and with updates that transaction is on-going and that my paintings are gaining attention and thus, cajoled me to be patient. Months of exercising patience on my part, nothing showed up. I need keep the soul together.
It was not easy coping, so I had to hit the street and not just keep myself and work indoors. While trying thinking, where and whom to make a presentation of the latest paintings with me to. I found a fellow artist friend, whom we are not any-close and never seen each others work or style, before. This fellow was curious to see what I have in my art-folder and I'm equally glad and gladly opened my folder and brought out my paintings on cardboard. But, the next this fellow said to me was: 'I was at Mrs so-so's place few days, I saw this art style with her, and she gave table and materials to an artist (mentioned that artist's name and known to me) and the artist was making duplicates".
I then realized why my payment was delayed and the fellow felt my pain, as I started packing my pieces back into the art-folder.
And as for the musician, He is lucky, they were not able to successfully cheat Him. I feel all those that appears in the picture the law must handle and must equally pay damages to the Artiste.