Photo Credit: Immo Wegmann
Amid a contentious courtroom confrontation with Universal Music Group (UMG), DistroKid has received a response-deadline extension and started removing tracks. But is the AI-audio crackdown affecting proper music as well?
Multiple individuals are answering in the affirmative on social media – with some indicating that their 100% human-created, sample-free, non-cover projects had been abruptly pulled. Meanwhile, the lawsuit’s response-deadline extension recently surfaced in an order from the presiding judge.
Beginning with the extension, DistroKid and the major label are now expected to complete an initial conference on or prior to November 13th. Additionally, the defendant has just shy of two months to respond to the action, which, we previously broke down in detail, accuses the distributor of “flooding platforms with AI-generated slop.”
(DistroKid promptly pushed back against the suit and said it was disappointed with the major’s choosing “litigation rather than established industry processes to address these issues.”)
Following this December 4th response cutoff, assuming DistroKid seeks to toss the action, Universal Music will have until mid-January to respond. And from there, the defendant’s follow-up won’t be due until early February.
Put differently, UMG v. DistroKid doesn’t appear to be proceeding at a breakneck speed. Despite the actual case’s relatively relaxed pace, though, it’s safe to say that the litigation has already prompted action.
Shifting the focus to Reddit, comments are pointing to DistroKid takedowns, a portion purportedly targeting non-AI generations, as mentioned.
Unsurprisingly, the comments are attributable to a variety of individuals; some say they’re longtime DistroKid clients, others are purportedly newer to the platform, and a portion of those in each category claim to have experienced abrupt pulldowns for no legitimate reason.
The latter – meaning real artists’ being impacted by allegedly unjustified streaming removals amid wider crackdowns – isn’t without precedent. But that’s probably of little consolation to the relevant professionals, several of whom have described thus-far-fruitless attempts to reinstate the releases in question.
Furthermore, others have indicated that the heightened scrutiny is affecting not only the use of AI on existing efforts, but samples and beats in forthcoming projects.
“My album is supposed to come out Friday the 16th, and DistroKid rejected the whole thing because one track matched another artist’s song,” a Redditor wrote. “Turns out we both used the same beat, except I actually paid for the lease and they never bought one. The producer posted the beat before their song even came out too.”
Naturally, this account spurred discussion about the precise origins of the beat at hand, the seller, the agreement, and different sub-topics yet.
“No AI used in my music and UMG put a copyright claim on one of my songs from 2001 with their artist’s song being from 2003 saying I sampled it (somehow 2 years after my track was released),” a second individual penned. “Distrokid just said OK, deleted my whole album with no notification to me and gave me a copyright strike. Both songs have the same sample from a commercially available sample pack. Sent all the proof to Distrokid and I’m waiting for a response.”
However, the way one self-described producer sees things, “a lot of the recent complaints seem to be coming from people making AI music.” Plus, certain uploaders are openly acknowledging plans to remove or retool “problem” tracks, referring mainly to those containing allegedly unauthorized samples or beats.
What does all that mean for the UMG lawsuit and DistroKid’s future in general? How many professionals will follow through on their professed plans to switch distributors? And between these takedowns, Suno’s download limits, and the Streaming Integrity Initiative, what will DSPs’ daily release volume look like in the new year?
Time will tell. For now, even at this early stage of the UMG v. DistroKid showdown, a pivot is clearly underway on the distributor’s end – and the stage may well be set for sweeping changes moving forward.
