In today's CMU Daily: Suno has responded to the lawsuit filed against it by the major record companies. It admits that it used music owned by the majors to train its music AI, but insists that doing so is fair use under American copyright law. Which means it’s not liable for copyright infringement. It then claims that the majors are just trying to shut down new competition which is a misuse of copyright

One Liners: Wise Music signs Dobrawa Czocher, Secretly Canadian signs Brandon, Rimas teams up with Wild Company in Chile, Sony Music Publishing ups Rob Stratton, majors agree to private mediation in Internet Archive lawsuit, Live Nation’s lawyer problem, Megaupload’s Kim Dotcom still fighting extradition + more

Also today: StubHub sued over drip pricing; US Copyright Office says there’s an urgent need for a new ‘digital replica’ right to stop unauthorised deepfakes

Plus: Miso Extra is CMU Approved

Suno admits it trained on major-owned music, accuses labels of misusing copyright

Music AI company Suno has formally responded to the lawsuit filed against it by the three major record companies, admitting that it trained its generative AI model with recordings owned by the majors, before presenting a bombastic fair use defence. It then accuses the record companies of anticompetitive behaviour which, it says, constitutes misuse of copyright.

An accompanying blog post reveals that, before the majors filed their lawsuit last month, Suno was in talks with the record companies about how they could collaborate to “expand the pie for music”. As a result, Suno isn’t sure if the new lawsuit is “the result of over-eager lawyers throwing their weight around” or “a conscious strategy to gain leverage in our commercial discussions”. Either way, “we believe that this lawsuit is an unnecessary impediment to a larger and more valuable future for music”.

In their lawsuit, the majors said that Suno had been vague about what music it had used to train its AI, but that they were certain the training dataset included recordings owned by Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music. In its response, filed with the court earlier today, Suno says, “It is no secret that the tens of millions of recordings that Suno’s model was trained on presumably included recordings whose rights are owned” by the major record companies.

Domino // Junior Radio Plugger (London)

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

Sentric Music // Copyright Manager (Liverpool/London)

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StubHub sued over “bait and switch” drip pricing system

The Attorney General for the District Of Columbia in the US, Brian L Schwalb, has sued secondary ticketing platform StubHub over its use of drip pricing and for “failing to provide clear and accurate information about the purpose of its fees or how the fees are calculated”.

Announcing the litigation, Schwalb says, “For years, StubHub has illegally deceived District consumers through its convoluted junk fee scheme”.

Under that scheme, he explains, “StubHub lures consumers in by advertising a deceptively low price, forces them through a burdensome purchase process, and then finally reveals a total on the checkout page that is vastly higher than the originally advertised ticket price”.

“This is no accident”, Schwalb reckons. “StubHub intentionally hides the true price to boost profits at its customers’ expense. The District is home to one of the nation’s largest and most vibrant live entertainment scenes, and StubHub’s predatory tactics disproportionately harm District residents. That is why today we’re suing to end StubHub’s exploitative pricing scheme”.

🎧 Approved: Miso Extra

Step into the Misoverse, a realm in which creative powerhouse Miso Extra shapes a kaleidoscope of sounds into a striking combination of dynamic synths, serene ASMR elements, and sharp, fragmented hip hop beats.

Her name is a clever twist on the racial taunts she faced growing up in the UK. Confronted with phrases like “me so horny”, and defying the stereotype of the quiet Asian, she reclaims the phrase with a bold transformation into “me so extra” - or Miso Extra.

Her latest single, ‘Slow Down’, produced by DJ Boring, encapsulates the atmosphere and delirium of the end of a night, carried by the energetic pulse of UK garage.

🎧 Watch the video for ‘Slow Down’ here

Don’t say ‘deepfake’: US Copyright Office says “urgent need” for ‘digital replica’ rights

The US Copyright Office has said there is “an urgent need for effective nationwide protection against the harms that can be caused” by unauthorised deepfakes and voice clones. To that end it urges US Congress to pass new laws similar to those proposed in the NO FAKES Act that was introduced in the US Senate yesterday.

That recommendation is made in the first of a series of reports on copyright and artificial intelligence, this one focused on what the Copyright Office refers to as AI-generated ‘digital replicas’, defined as “a video, image, or audio recording that has been digitally created or manipulated to realistically but falsely depict an individual”.

Launching the report, US Register Of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter says, “It has become clear that the distribution of unauthorised digital replicas poses a serious threat not only in the entertainment and political arenas but also for private citizens. We believe there is an urgent need for effective nationwide protection against the harms that can be caused to reputations and livelihoods”.