A group of independent musicians filed a class action lawsuit against Google LLC, alleging it copied millions of copyrighted songs, lyrics, and vocal recordings from platforms like YouTube to train its AI music generator Lyria 3 without permission. The plaintiffs claim the system can produce realistic vocals, lyrics, and harmonies by extracting elements such as “biometric voiceprints,” raising concerns not only about copyright infringement but also violations of publicity and biometric privacy laws.

The lawsuit argues that Lyria 3 directly competes with human musicians by generating music suitable for commercial uses like ads, games, and streaming content, threatening artists’ core revenue streams. It also alleges violations of the DMCA, claiming Google removed copyright management information and bypassed protections to obtain training data at scale. The plaintiffs seek damages as well as orders to stop further use of the data and require deletion of infringing training materials.