In our recent legal update, which can be found here, we discussed the likelihood that in the absence of adequate regulation, major record labels could follow Warner Music Group’s lead in entering agreements with AI music platforms such as Suno. These deals represent an effort by labels to assert greater control and minimise the risk of copyright infringement arising from AI platforms scraping copyrighted works without permission.   

Suno last year faced a major lawsuit in the United States from Sony Music, Warner Music Group (“WMG”), and Universal Music Group (“UMG”) for copyright infringement. Since then, WMG has entered into a formal collaboration with Suno. Under this arrangement, WMG artists may choose to opt in and permit Suno to use their music for AI‑training purposes. This represents a significant shift from Suno’s previous practice of scraping large volumes of music data from the internet and works from WMG’s catalogue, allegedly without authorisation. By structuring the relationship through an authorised agreement, the label is able to retain control over how artists’ works are used, have a say on the nature of AI‑generated outputs, and secure appropriate licensing fees.

The recent actions of the group Anna’s Archive (an open source search engine for shadow libraries that aims to provide free worldwide access to books, papers and articles), of scraping approximately 86 million music files from Spotify, have further heightened industry concerns, given the likelihood that such material could be used for developing AI models. This has seen WMG, UMG, Sony Music Entertainment and Spotify filing a lawsuit in the United States against Anna’s Archive due to its allegedly unauthorised use of millions of files of commercial sound recordings. This underscores the pressing need for legal and regulatory clarity. The Secretary of State, Liz Kendall, has emphasised the importance of “backing and championing” the creative industries, yet many creators remain exposed, with current UK copyright law failing to offer sufficient protection against AI‑driven scraping.

Looking ahead, the sector will experience significant change in 2026. Forbes has recently highlighted predictions that AI will fundamentally reshape the role of licensing, noting in particular that licensing is likely to occur much later in the process, after AI platforms have already generated works. This shift means that rights issues risk being dealt with reactively rather than proactively.

At the beginning of this year, UMG announced a new “collaboration” with NVIDIA. In its announcement, UMG framed the partnership as an opportunity to drive innovation in “AI for music discovery, creation, and engagement,” leveraging both NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure and UMG’s extensive catalogue of millions of tracks across all genres and eras. This move reflects an industry wide effort to explore new modes of music interaction and discovery, while still safeguarding artists’ rights.

A central focus of the collaboration is NVIDIA Music Flamingo, an advanced AI music model designed to understand musical structure, emotional tone, lyrical content, and cultural context. NVIDIA’s mission, it says, it to facilitate using AI tools to empower rather than replace artists. To this end, NVIDIA and UMG have established a dedicated AI “artist incubator,” intended to allow musicians to co‑design tools that enhance rather than dilute creative output, and to prevent the proliferation of generic, low‑quality AI‑generated music. The announcement makes clear that artists are to be actively involved in shaping these new technologies, aligning with the broader industry trend of seeking responsible, artist‑centred AI development.

UMG and NVIDIA have also committed to conducting joint research and involving artists directly in product development. This marks a deliberate move towards greater clarity in the use of AI within the music industry and reflects an effort to integrate the inevitable rise of AI‑driven platforms into existing creative and commercial structures. The announcement, that can be found here, states:

“The collaboration will employ both companies’ research capabilities, establishing creative laboratories that foster comprehensive input from artists, songwriters, music labels and publishers, in part by leveraging UMG’s world-class studio operations such as Abbey Road Studios in London and Capitol Studios in Los Angeles. In addition, UMG will use NVIDIA AI infrastructure in the development of responsibly trained AI-driven business and creative processes.” 

This approach highlights the industry’s growing recognition of the need for responsible AI development, ensuring that tools are trained and deployed in ways that respect copyright law and uphold human creativity. It also reinforces the importance of ensuring that rightsholders are properly compensated whenever their works are used by AI platforms.

The UMG–NVIDIA collaboration demonstrates an approach to developing responsibly trained AI models using licensed and owned music, rather than relying on large‑scale scraping of unlicensed material. 

In any case, both this partnership and the example discussed in our previous blog convey the clear need for the prioritisation of artists’ rights and to track the use of copyright protected material. Crucially, these collaborations reflect the principle that artists should be informed when their works are used by AI platforms, and that proper authorisation must be obtained. Copyright law will need to evolve alongside AI developments, but it is clear that AI must not be permitted to override or undermine existing copyright protections.

This collaboration is significant for the wider industry landscape. UMG, as the world’s leading music company, and NVIDIA, as a major force in AI development, are well positioned to influence what constitutes “responsible AI” development and to shape emerging standards for how music licensing will intersect with AI training in the years ahead.

The impact of these industry-led collaborations and deals remains to be seen, and it will be interesting to keep up with artists’ and producers’ reactions to developments, given these agreements have been led by the labels. Whilst benefiting artists that are signed to those labels that have achieved agreements with AI developers, artists with other labels or their own labels, and smaller unrepresented or self-published artists (on platforms such as SoundCloud and others) remain exposed to AI-scraping. As a catch-all, regulation is badly needed for the entire industry’s copyright to be safeguarded.

The UK government has announced that it will provide reports on AI and copyright by 18 March 2026, it will include its plans on copyright protection for AI generated works. We will continue to monitor developments in the use of generative AI within the music industry and assess how legal protections evolve. 

If you are a rightsholder who has identified tracks that you believe infringe your rights, or if you are interested in exploring collaboration agreements with AI platforms, please get in touch with Lakmal Walawage or Ruby Clarke. We would be happy to discuss how you can safeguard your work and ensure your rights are properly protected.