It’s raining lawsuits!
This week, Universal Music Group sued DistroKid, the world’s biggest music distributor by volume, accusing it of deceptive trade practices, copyright infringement, and flooding platforms with AI-generated “slop.”
Meanwhile, today (September 18), MBW learned that UMG and Sony Music Group are jointly suing Suno for a second time – alleging that the AI platform’s new V6 model is “fruit from the same poisoned tree.” Some $9 billion in damages might be at stake.
Elsewhere this week, Believe and TuneCore pledged not to feed artists’ music to Suno without an explicit opt-in, insisting that “the artist must consent first, period.”
Plus: Fever, owner of DICE, raised $250 million in a round led by EQT, valuing the live-entertainment company at approximately $5.2 billion.
Here are five of the biggest headlines from the past few days…
1. Universal Music Group sues DistroKid, accusing it of ‘unlawful practices’ and ‘flooding platforms with AI-generated slop’
Universal Music Group is suing the world’s biggest music distributor by volume, DistroKid.
In its lawsuit, UMG, the world’s largest music rights company, alleges that DistroKid has “engaged in both deceptive trade practices and blatant copyright infringement”.
Key parts of UMG’s suit center on DistroKid’s alleged involvement with AI-made music. (MBW)
2. Universal and Sony sue Suno for a second time, claiming platform’s v6 models are ‘the fruit of the same poisoned tree’
Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment have sued Suno for a second time.
The joint complaint, filed on Friday (September 18) in Boston federal court, accuses the AI music company of copying 60,202 of the labels’ sound recordings, without a license, and using them to build the models that run its music generation service.
The new filing against Suno, obtained by MBW, can be read in full here. (MBW)
3. DICE owner Fever raises $250M led by EQT, at a $5.2B valuation, in ‘largest ever’ round for a live-entertainment tech company
Live-entertainment platform Fever has raised USD $250 million in a primary equity financing round.
The round was led by EQT, a new investor in the company, with participation from fellow newcomer Baillie Gifford, existing backer Point72 Private Investments, and other existing shareholders.
Fever, which owns UK-headquartered ticketing platform DICE, announced the financing on Thursday (September 17), describing it as “the largest ever for a live-entertainment tech company.” (MBW)
4. Believe and TuneCore won’t feed music to Suno without giving artists choice to opt in: ‘The artist must consent first, period.’
It’s been a big couple of weeks for Suno.
Last Tuesday (September 8), the gen-AI firm announced a new licensing agreement with Believe, adding to existing deals with Warner Music Group and BMG.
The next day, Suno introduced its V6 models, which the firm says were trained from scratch on a collection of copyrights from licensed partners. (MBW)
5. Apollo invests $1.25B in BMG subsidiary behind legacy Concord bonds, taking a minority stake
Apollo Global Management has provided a USD $1.25 billion equity investment tied to BMG, in a deal that allows the music company to repay debt secured against Concord‘s catalog.
Apollo announced the transaction on Thursday (September 17), a little over two weeks after BMG and Concord completed their merger on September 1 – a move which formed a combined company operating under the BMG brand.
Apollo-managed funds and affiliates have acquired what Apollo describes as a “noncontrolling interest” in a subsidiary of BMG that holds the legacy Concord asset-backed securities, backed by a catalog of over 1 million songs. (MBW)
Partner message: MBW’s Weekly Round-up is supported by BMI, the global leader in performing rights management, dedicated to supporting songwriters, composers and publishers and championing the value of music. Find out more about BMI here. Music Business Worldwide
