Universal Music Group Sues DistroKid for Deceptive Trade Practices and Building an ‘AI-Slop Pipeline’

Universal Music Group sued the distribution service DistroKid on Tuesday, claiming in a federal lawsuit that the service infringed on the label’s copyright by pumping out “AI-generated ‘slop’ that siphons revenue and listeners from the legitimate artists and rightsholders.”

In the 52-page lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Delaware, UMG and its Capitol Records imprint claimed DistroKid improperly presented itself as a music distributor dedicated solely to serving artist-created work to distribution platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and more. Instead, DistroKid runs afoul of the policies of such streaming services and the mission of the Music Fights Fraud Alliance, of which it’s a member, by building an “AI-slop pipeline” that continued even when the service was told its tracks infringed on artists’ work. It cites an example of a “Lofi Chill“ artist that produced
4,562 tracks within a 12-month period.

“The consequences of this deception fall on the legitimate players in the music economy, including artists, consumers, Digital Services, and Plaintiffs,” the label claimed, arguing the deceptive tactic diverts streams and revenue away from human-created work. “The deception also gives DistroKid an unfair competitive advantage: Plaintiffs and others bear the substantial costs of trying to ensure only music backed by authentic artists and legitimately owned is distributed to Digital Services, while DistroKid does none of that work and yet is treated by the market as though it operates on the same terms. A business built on such deception makes competition unfair.”

DistroKid did not respond to an immediate request for comment. The company, founded in 2012, touts itself as a service where independent artists, for $24.99 a year, can upload an “unlimited” amount of songs and albums to be distributed across streaming services.

The lawsuit also claims that DistroKid deliberately infringes upon UMG’s copyright by allowing remixed versions of UMG tracks, such as a “radio edit” version of Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy,” to be uploaded to streaming services without proper licensing. The streaming services inform DistroKid about such infringement, UMG claimed, but “Here is where it gets egregious: after acknowledging that it does not have rights in the track, DistroKid continues to distribute that exact same recording” to more streaming services.

“Continuing to distribute these infringing tracks allows DistroKid to collect ill-gotten revenues that should have gone to Plaintiffs and other legitimate rightsholders,” the label claimed. “DistroKid cannot claim ignorance (which wouldn’t be a defense anyway). DistroKid has recording-by-recording knowledge and has made a business decision to keep infringing everywhere DistroKid has not yet been caught.”

UMG asked the court for statutory damages, prevent DistroKid from making it seem like their collection of work are primarily “artist-backed releases“ and prevent the distributor from further infringing on any of its copyrighted work.

The lawsuit comes as labels and music platforms try to navigate the proliferation of AI-generated music across streaming services and the potential fraud that comes with it. It also follows the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s Monday introduction of a “Streaming Integrity Initiative,” a set of standards it encouraged music distributors to adopt to combat streaming fraud. Major labels — including UMG, Sony Music Group and Warner Music Group — adopted the standards, while DistroKid did not sign on, according to a Music Business Worldwide dataset.

Streaming services have taken action against the flood of AI-generated music hitting their platforms. Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal, among others, have introduced labels for AI-made tracks, while Tidal banned those songs from earning royalties. A collection of groups representing musicians and the music industry at large — including the RIAA, IFPI, the Grammys and SAG-AFTRA — also banded together in July to advocate for a new labeling program to indicate whether a song has been produced with AI.