Sony files a brand-new 30,000-song lawsuit against Udio after judge blocked its first attempt

Sony Got Told No. So It Sued Udio Again With 30,000 Songs.

Sony Music Entertainment wanted to add 30,000 songs to its existing copyright lawsuit against the AI music generator Udio. A federal judge blocked the move. Sony's response: file a brand-new, standalone lawsuit with every one of those songs.

On Monday, Sony filed a fresh complaint in a New York court alleging that Udio infringed more than 30,000 recordings, from Elvis Presley to Beyoncé to Harry Styles 1. The decision to launch a new case is a deliberate procedural escalation. When one legal door closed, Sony didn't negotiate. It filed an entirely separate suit.

How we got here. In June 2024, Sony, Universal Music Group, and Warner sued Udio and rival AI platform Suno, accusing both of mass copyright infringement 2. During discovery, Sony gained access to Udio's training data and used audio fingerprinting to identify additional works it says Udio had fed into its AI models 1. The count came to 30,442 copyrighted recordings 2.

On May 22, 2026, Sony filed a motion to add those works to its existing case. The judge denied it, leaving the original lawsuit capped at 333 works 1. Sony then took the same evidence the court wouldn't accept as an amendment and built a standalone suit around it.

Udio has not denied that its models were trained on copyrighted music. In August 2024, Udio and Suno largely admitted to using copyrighted recordings as training data but argued the practice qualifies as fair use under US copyright law 2. In April 2026, Udio admitted in court filings that it obtained audio from YouTube for training, including through a stream-ripping tool 2. The company maintains its fair use defense.

Sony stands alone. Two of the three major labels that sued Udio have already walked away from the fight. Universal Music Group settled its claims in October 2025, and Warner Music Group followed in November 2025 2. Both have since struck licensing deals with Udio for a new AI music platform 1.

That makes Sony the sole major label still litigating against Udio 2. The split is the real signal here. UMG and Warner decided partnership served their interests better. Sony is pushing in the opposite direction, expanding its claims rather than settling them.

The financial exposure scales with the song count. Sony is seeking up to $150,000 per infringed work 1. Across more than 30,000 recordings, the statutory ceiling runs into the billions. Sony also says the songs in this filing represent only a small portion of what Udio infringed, and that it could expand the suit 1.

For AI music companies and the investors backing them, the takeaway is structural. The litigation surface around AI-generated music is widening, not narrowing. Settling with two majors didn't close the door. It left the holdout standing alone with a bigger case than ever, and Sony has now shown that a procedural loss is a detour, not a stop sign.