In today's CMU Daily: The RIAA is suing generative AI companies Suno and Udio, claiming that they are training their models using copyrighted music without permission. The “speed and scale” at which Suno and Udio can output knock off copies of real artists could have “devastating impacts” on human creativity, says the trade body

One Liners: Gary Grainger deal; Dim Mak promotion; Spotify launches music-only subscription in the US; Bauer Media launches new radio streaming app; St Vincent UK shows; new single from Kali Uchis

Also today: DoJ action against Live Nation will “severely damage” company, says shareholder in a new lawsuit; KKR acquires Superstruct; Apple Intelligence may be delayed in Europe due to EU regulations

Suno and Udio’s “lawless” behaviour cheapens human creativity with sound-a-likes and knock-offs says watershed RIAA lawsuit

The RIAA is suing AI music platforms Suno and Udio, alleging that both have trained their generative AI models with existing music and, in doing so, have infringed an awful lot of copyright. 

The litigation has been coordinated by the Recording Industry Association Of America on behalf of its members, which include the three major record companies. RIAA CEO Mitch Glazier says that the music community has already “embraced AI” and forged partnerships with various “responsible developers”, adding “there is both promise and peril in AI”. 

“Devastating impacts” on human creativity

Suno and Udio, say the lawsuits, have been “deliberately evasive” about how they trained their AI models. The RIAA alleges that both services have stolen copyright protected recordings “on an almost unimaginable scale” to develop technologies that generate “synthetic musical outputs”. 

As a result, the outputs of the two platforms will have “rapid and devastating impacts”, because the “speed and scale” at which music can be generated “could saturate the market with machine-generated sound-a-likes and knockoffs”, which will “directly compete with, cheapen, and ultimately drown out the genuine sound recordings on which they were built”. 

“There is nothing that exempts AI technology from copyright law or that excuses AI companies from playing by the rules”, the lawsuits adds. “AI companies, like all other enterprises, must abide by the laws that protect human creativity and ingenuity”.

The first big test of music industry’s instance that ‘fair use’ does not apply to AI training

These are the first big record industry lawsuits filed against AI companies that are generating music. The other big music case - against Anthropic - was filed by a group of music publishers and relates to the alleged infringement of the copyright in lyrics. 

In the early days of digital music, the RIAA coordinated many of the key lawsuits that were filed against file-sharing platforms, starting with the Napster litigation in 2000. 

Although the record industry was usually successful in court during the file-sharing days, the lawsuits did little to stop online music piracy in the short term. However, the cases did clarify the legal obligations of the digital platforms and the RIAA might argue that that helped provide an environment where legit digital music services could prosper. 

It is certainly seeking to position these lawsuits as having that objective, arguing that going after the unlicensed AI platforms will help the AI companies that are collaborating with the industry.  The RIAA states that “unlicensed services like Suno and Udio that claim it’s ‘fair’ to copy an artist’s life’s work and exploit it for their own profit without consent or pay set back the promise of genuinely innovative AI for us all”. 

The RIAA “believes strongly in the human-to-human, artist-to-fan connection that comes from lived experience”, it adds. “That is worth fighting for. We embrace artificial intelligence tools that are responsible, pro-artist, and keep humans at the centre of creativity. That is what these cases are about”.

Drumsheds, Broadwick Live // Senior Operations Manager (London)

Drumsheds, Broadwick Live // Duty Operations Manager (London)

Drumsheds, Broadwick Live // Operations Coordinator (London)

terrible* // Finance Assistant/Bookkeeper (London)

SJM Concerts // Event Ticketing Manager (Manchester)

Sentric Music // Revenue Optimisation Manager (London/Liverpool)

Sentric Music // Copyright Manager (Liverpool/London)

Horizon is CMU's new weekly newsletter - published each Friday - that brings you a hand-picked selection of early-stage career opportunities from across the music industry.

Whether you're looking for your first job in music or you're ready to take a step up, Horizon is here to help you find your dream job faster.

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ONE LINERS

Kali Uchis, Spotify, Sim Mak + more

DEALS

New Songs Administration has acquired a 50% share of the songwriting catalogue of Gary Grainger, best known for his work with Rod Stewart. “It’s a privilege to have these works alongside songs that we already have by Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard and The Beatles”, says Managing Director John Fogarty. “Long live rock and roll!”

APPOINTMENTS

Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak record label has promoted Lorne Padman to President. “Throughout Lorne’s ten years as Vice President, he has been an integral part of the label’s success story”, Aoki tells Billboard. “His ability to cultivate strong relationships within the industry has been critical in elevating the reputation of Dim Mak’s brand. I’m confident that Lorne’s leadership and hard work will continue to steer the label toward further growth and excellence”.

DIGITAL

Spotify has launched a music-only subscription in the US, as it recently did in the UK, so basically music and podcasts without audiobooks at a slightly cheaper price. The streaming service also recently reclassified its main premium tier as a music and audiobooks bundle, saying that this allows it to pay lower royalties to music publishers and songwriters in the US by exploiting a bundling clause in the compulsory licence that operates in that market. 

MEDIA

Bauer Media has launched a new audio platform called Rayo offering access to more than 50 radio stations as well as curated playlists and on-demand content. The broadcaster’s Planet Radio website, that previously aggregated its radio stations, is also relaunching under that brand. “This is a pivotal moment in Bauer Media Audio UK’s journey”, says CEO Simon Myciunka. “We have an incredibly strong portfolio of brands and millions of engaged listeners – many of whom are increasingly listening to stations on connected devices. Rayo will bring them into the audioverse and offer a much-improved listening experience, with a daily soundtrack that is simplified, personalised and hand-picked by our team of DJs, presenters and special guests”.

GIGS & FESTIVALS

St Vincent has announced that she will play Dublin’s Olympia Theatre on 13 Oct and Manchester’s Albert Hall on 14 Oct. Tickets go on general sale on Friday.  

RELEASES

Kali Uchi has released new single ‘Never Be Yours’.

Live Nation boss Michael Rapino sued by shareholder over DoJ action

A Live Nation investor has sued members of the live giant’s board - including CEO Michael Rapino and CFO Joe Berchtold - in response to the recent filing of legal action against the company by the US Department Of Justice. The boss of Oak View Group, Tim Leiweke, is also named as a defendant over allegations of collusion between the two live music companies. 

The government department accuses Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary of anticompetitive conduct, and has asked the court to force Live Nation to sell off the Ticketmaster business it acquired back in 2010. 

At the time of the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger, the company agreed a consent decree with the DoJ which regulated how the different strands of the business would work together to allay competition concerns. The DoJ reckons the company breached that decree. 

The government's legal action, shareholder John Williams claims, will “severely damage and injure” Live Nation and its shareholders. Indeed, just responding to and fighting the action is costly for the live music company, Williams’ lawsuit notes, adding, “Live Nation has expended and will continue to expend significant sums of money”.

This is the fault of the board members, Williams alleges, because following the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger they “continued to cause Live Nation to engage in anticompetitive conduct in defiance of the consent decree”. In doing so, he says, they “breached their fiduciary duties” to the company's shareholders. 

When it emerged that the DoJ was investigating the company, Williams adds, the board “misrepresented to the company’s shareholders and the investing public” that they were “cooperating with federal investigators, when in fact the opposite was true: Live Nation was actively attempting to thwart the federal investigations and was not cooperating with them”. 

The lawsuit also explains how the DoJ’s litigation “details many internal emails and correspondence between Live Nation and others demonstrating the brazen antitrust violations”. That includes correspondence between Live Nation and Oak View, the venue operator co-founded in 2015 by Leiweke and former Live Nation Chair Irving Azoff. 

“Live Nation initially viewed Oak View Group as one of its biggest competitor threats”, Williams’ lawsuit states. “But instead of competing, the companies colluded with each other to avoid competition”, agreeing a “mutually beneficial scheme” to violate competition law and “increase profits at the expense of consumers”. 

Williams alleges that Oak View and Leiweke “aided and abetted” the Live Nation board members, with the Oakview CEO even “calling his company a ‘pimp’ and a ‘hammer’ for Live Nation” and “sometimes delivering threats on behalf of Live Nation to venues that were considering dropping Ticketmaster for another ticket provider”. 

The defendants are yet to respond to the new lawsuit, although Live Nation has strongly denied all the allegations of anticompetitive conduct made by the DoJ. And, if the company can prove there has been no anticompetitive conduct, it would be impossible to hold the board members liable for any breach of duty. 

KKR acquires Superstruct

Festival operator Superstruct has been acquired by investment firm KKR. Financial terms of the deal are not known, but the business was estimated to be valued at £1.5 billion earlier this year. 

Founded by equity firm Providence and Cream founder and former Live Nation exec James Barton in 2017, Superstruct runs festivals including Sonar, Benicàssim, Sziget, Bluedot and Boardmasters. Providence reportedly began making plans for a sale last year - before formally putting it up for sale in April - in a bid to capitalise on the post-COVID bounce back of live music. 

Those gains have mainly been made at the top end of the live music market, with independent events facing significant challenges. However, those that are part of a group, such as Superstruct, are well placed to take advantage of economies of scale.

In a joint statement, KKR partners Philipp Freise and Franziska Kayser said Superstruct has established itself as “a leader in delivering unparalleled live music experiences globally”.

“With a robust foundation as a top-tier live entertainment platform, we see significant growth opportunities ahead for Superstruct”, they went on. KKR, they said, will “support the company and its entrepreneurial team to bring their compelling portfolio of live event formats to a wider audience and drive further growth”.

Superstruct’s portfolio of events now consists of 80 music festivals across nine European countries and Australia, giving them a potential reach of nearly seven million attendees. That reach allows Superstruct to operate a successful brand partnerships business which further allows its festivals to successfully operate in a challenging marketplace. 

There are fears from some quarters that brands might reduce their sponsorship activity around music and other cultural events following the recent controversies involving Barclays’ sponsorship of Live Nation’s festivals and investment firm Baillie Gifford’s involvement in various literary festivals. Brands fearful of a possible backlash might look to involve themselves in sectors where there tends to be less scrutiny - such as sport. 

Superstruct’s events have been able to successfully navigate some of the financial challenges faced by independent festivals, thanks in part to their festivals being within a well-funded corporate group. However, if those fears about brands leaving music come to pass, that will inevitably affect the bigger players in the market too. 

Nevertheless, the team at Superstruct remain positive. Barton - now Chair of Superstruct - and CEO Roderik Schlösser added that they are “proud to have secured the backing of KKR, whose expertise and network will strengthen our ability to scale and innovate in the vibrant experiential economy”.

As part of the deal, Providence retains an option to invest $250 million into Superstruct.

Apple says EU rules will delay launch of Apple Intelligence in Europe

Apple has announced that it will delay launching a number of its new features in the European Union - including its generative AI tool Apple Intelligence - because complying with interoperability requirements in the EU’s Digital Markets Act would require it to “compromise the integrity” of the products and “risk user privacy and data security”.  

The DMA went into effect earlier this year and aims to ensure that the major technology companies cannot abuse their market power, with interoperability requirements being a key mechanism to ensure an open and level playing field. Apple could be the first company to be fined under the regulations in relation to its rules around in-app payments, which have already been deemed anticompetitive by EU regulators following complaints from Spotify. 

Apple now says that the EU rules will also negatively impact some of the “hundreds of new features” it unveiled earlier this month. 

“We are highly motivated to make these technologies accessible to all users”, it says in a statement. “However, due to the regulatory uncertainties brought about by the DMA, we do not believe that we will be able to roll out three of these features - iPhone Mirroring, SharePlay Screen Sharing enhancements, and Apple Intelligence - to our EU users this year”.

Complying with “interoperability requirements” in the DMA, Apple’s statement continues, would “force us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways that risk user privacy and data security”. Nevertheless, it adds, “we are committed to collaborating with the European Commission in an attempt to find a solution that would enable us to deliver these features to our EU customers without compromising their safety”.

Responding to Apple’s statement, EU spokesperson Thomas Regnier told The Verge, “The EU is an attractive market of 450 million potential users, and has always been open for business for any company that wants to provide services in the European internal market. Gatekeepers are welcome to offer their services in Europe, provided that they comply with our rules aimed at ensuring fair competition”. 

Despite the commitment to collaborate with EU officials, Apple’s statement last week could be part of a move to put pressure on the European Commission to be more flexible when enforcing the DMA, by warning consumers in Europe that they will miss out on these new features because of the EU’s draconian rules. That could result in something of a backlash against the DMA by consumer groups or even EU member states. 

It’s not just Apple that is telling Europeans that EU law is delaying the roll out of AI tools. Earlier this month Meta said that it was delaying the launch of its new AI products in Europe because of EU regulations, although in Meta’s case it was data protection law that was the cause for concern. Meta issued a statement after the Irish privacy regulator told it to delay its plan to harness data from Facebook and Instagram users.