The complaints, each spanning roughly 100 pages, were filed by plaintiffs including indie R&B band Attack the Sound, father-son songwriting duo Stan and James Burjek, and members of Chicago group Directrix. They also accused the AI firms of flooding the market with substitute tracks that decrease licensing opportunities. The lawsuits join earlier legal actions from major record labels and country musician Tony Justice targeting Suno and Udio.
Rights
Milk & Honey Launches Label With Songwriter-Friendly Royalty Model
The new Los Angeles-based label will focus on pop and dance music but differs from most record companies in that it will pay royalty points — as high as double digits — to songwriters who contribute songs to projects. “Bring us your songs that you might have sent to another label where you wouldn’t be given points. We want to be in business with you” said Milk & Honey’s president/founder Lucas Keller in a statement. The royalty will come out of Milk & Honey’s revenue share.
Source: Milk & Honey Launches Label With Songwriter-Friendly Royalty Model: ‘Bring Us Your Songs’
AI Contract Platform Clearnote Aims to End Deal Delays: ‘The System Is Outdated’
Clearnote, which has just launched in beta, uses an AI-guided, TurboTax-style questionnaire covering royalties and rights and then automatically generates the correct agreement with clauses tailored to the user’s needs. Users can also load in artist and producer profiles and let Clearnote fill in more than a dozen contract fields with one click.
Source: AI Contract Platform Clearnote Aims to End Deal Delays: ‘The System Is Outdated’
Music publishers ink AI licensing deals with lyrics and music data company Musixmatch
Lyrics and music data company Musixmatch says it has signed AI licensing deals with the publishing arms of all three major music companies. The deals with Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group and Warner Chappell Music give Musixmatch access to catalogs of over 15 million musical works, with which the company plans to develop new analytical tools and “non-generative AI services.”
Source: Major music publishers ink AI licensing deals with lyrics and music data company Musixmatch
SAG-AFTRA and Agents Applaud Fixes to Open AI’s Sora 2 After Outcry
OpenAI appears to have calmed fears around Sora 2, winning over SAG-AFTRA, CAA, UTA and actor Bryan Cranston with new guardrails on the platform to protect actors’ voices and likenesses. Cranston was among those who raised concerns when the initial launch of the AI video platform allowed users to create his image without his permission. In a statement issued by the actors’ union on Monday, Cranston thanked OpenAI for updating Sora 2 to add new protections.
Source: Bryan Cranston, SAG-AFTRA and Agents Applaud Fixes to Open AI’s Sora 2 After Outcry
Inside the web infrastructure revolt over Google’s AI Overviews
Cloudflare, a web infrastructure company, has updated millions of websites’ robots.txt files in an effort to force Google to change how it crawls them to fuel its AI products and initiatives. There have been lawsuits, efforts to kick-start new marketplaces to ensure compensation, and more—but few companies have the kind of leverage Cloudflare does. Its products and services back something close to 20 percent of the web, and thus a significant slice of the websites that show up on search results pages or that fuel large language models.
Source: Inside the web infrastructure revolt over Google’s AI Overviews
Italian news publishers demand investigation into Google’s AI Overviews
Italian news publishers are calling for an investigation into Google’s AI Overviews, arguing that the search engine’s AI-generated summaries feature is a “traffic killer” that threatens their survival. FIEG, the Italian federation of newspaper publishers, said it has submitted a formal complaint to Agcom, Italy’s communications watchdog. Similar complaints have been filed in other EU countries.
Source: Italian news publishers demand investigation into Google’s AI Overviews
AI Translation Race Accelerates
AI-powered book translation services are proliferating globally, with new platforms claiming to unlock previously inaccessible international markets for independent authors and small publishers. But as these services scale rapidly, questions about copyright protection and translation quality are emerging alongside enthusiasm from publishers quietly experimenting behind the scenes.
Source: AI Translation Race Accelerates
MetaComet Expands Into Rights
MetaComet, a royalty management software provider serving nearly 200 publishers globally, is launching MetaComet Rights, a new rights management platform that marks the company’s first major product expansion beyond its core royalties business in its 25-year history. The platform represents a strategic shift for MetaComet, which co-founder David Marlin said has spent the past year building integrations and partnerships after completing a multi-year rebuild of its legacy systems.
Source: MetaComet Expands Into Rights
CMG, Loti AI to Protect IP for Estates of Burt Reynolds, Jimmy Stewart, Judy Garland and More
Amid the mounting concerns over OpenAI’s Sora 2 in the entertainment industry, the estates of Judy Garland, Jimmy Stewart, Burt Reynolds and more late celebrities are being safeguarded in a new likeness and AI protection deal between deepfake detection firm Loti AI and IP management firm CMG Worldwide. Under the pact, Loti AI’s advanced technology and services will serve to protect CMG’s portfolio of personalities and estates from unauthorized digital use and manipulation