The Authentic Brands Group, responsible for the rights to Elvis Presley’s music and image, sued Anthropic for allegedly using 274 of the artist’s songs to train artificial intelligence models without authorization.
The lawsuit seeks damages of US$150,000 (approximately R$750,000) per track, which could amount to US$41 million (around R$205 million).
The claim seeks up to R$750,000 for each musical work that may have been used without authorization by the startup. – Image: gguy/Shutterstock
Lawsuit cites 274 Elvis Presley songs
Initially reported by Billboard magazine, the lawsuit accuses the developer of Claude of violating the copyrights of 274 Elvis songs. Among them are Can’t Help Falling in Love, All Shook Up and A Little Less Conversation.
In the complaint, the plaintiffs’ attorney, Richard Busch, criticizes the company’s actions and states that it built its business model on large-scale copyright infringement.
The document also alleges that Claude generates content that infringes rights related to virtually all songs in catalogs available on the internet. The singer’s representatives also question the protection mechanisms implemented by Anthropic to prevent the generation of protected material.According to the lawsuit, these barriers would be ineffective, and the company would have known of their limitations.
The allegations still need to be assessed by the courts.
Dispute may influence AI training
The case adds to other disputes between artificial intelligence companies and the music industry. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and record labels such as Sony, Universal and Warner Records have also filed claims related to the use of protected works by AI systems.
The lawsuit involving Elvis is among the first major legal challenges brought directly by an artist’s representatives against a developer of this type of technology. The decision could influence future discussions about the limits of using music catalogs to train models.
In the filing, Busch says that the singer’s representatives are seeking to protect his exclusive rights against practices he considers unprecedented in scale. The document also alleges that Anthropic continued to infringe musical rights even after implementing mechanisms to try to block the generation of protected content.
The outcome of this dispute should establish new rules for the use of protected collections in the training of new models. Image: fabrikasimf/Freepik
How the dispute affects the music market
AI-powered music generation systems analyze recordings to learn sound characteristics and compositional structures. Based on this learning, they can produce tracks from written or spoken commands.
The technology concerns artists for different reasons:
- Compensation: rights holders discuss how their works should be licensed and compensated when used in AI development.
- Authenticity: tools can generate music that imitates the characteristics of existing artists.
- Transparency: musicians and catalog owners seek to understand which recordings were used to train the models.
- Distribution: the growth of AI-generated music increases pressure on platforms that recommend content to listeners.
Spotify has also taken steps against this type of content. In the week before the original report was published, the platform announced the removal of approximately 50 million songs considered low-quality AI-generated content from its recommendations over the previous year.
The lawsuit against Anthropic adds another chapter to the dispute between copyright holders and artificial intelligence companies, and its outcome may help define how protected musical works can be used in the development of these technologies.
Valdir Antonelli is a journalist specializing in digital marketing and consumer trends.
