The American Federation of Musicians has filed its opposition to a motion by Universal, Warner Records and Atlantic to dismiss the union's federal suit over AI licensing. The claim: when the labels turned their fights with Suno and Udio into licensing deals, they handed over master recordings without telling or paying the session musicians on them.
Before Judge Edgardo Ramos in Manhattan, the case turns on a reuse clause in the Sound Recording Labor Agreement. Dismissal would push musicians back to the bargaining table; denial opens discovery into the labels' AI deals and the recordings supplied.
Hypebot's framing is blunt: the labels sued in the name of human artistry, then kept the settlement money themselves.
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