Udio, an AI music startup facing ongoing litigation from major record labels alongside its competitor Suno, has released its first mobile app on Apple’s iOS platform.
The app, launched Tuesday (May 20), brings Udio‘s text-to-music generation features to mobile devices, allowing users to create songs through text prompts without traditional music training.
The company, backed by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, among others, said the app makes “studio-quality songs with AI.”
In June last year, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group‘s UMG Recordings, and Warner Records sued Udio and its peer Suno in the US, alleging copyright infringement in the AI training process.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) claims both companies used copyrighted recordings without permission to train their AI systems. “AI companies, like all other enterprises, must abide by the laws that protect human creativity and ingenuity,” the complaints against Suno and Udio state. “There is nothing that exempts AI technology from copyright law or that excuses AI companies from playing by the rules.”
Ed Newton-Rex, former VP of Audio at Stability AI and founder of ethical AI organization Fairly Trained, identified similarities between Udio-generated music and works from established artists including John Lennon, Natalie Imbruglia, and Coldplay, among others.
Prior to the lawsuits, Udio and Suno argued in April 2024 that their use of copyrighted materials falls under “fair use” exemptions to US copyright law. In responses filed in US federal courts in August 2024, the two AI companies pretty much admitted that they used copyrighted recordings from the recording companies that sued them.
Udio’s iOS app includes core features from the company’s web platform: AI-generated song creation, cover art generation, song extensions, playlist management, and a discovery feed for exploring user-created content.
The company offers tiered subscription options starting with a Free plan that includes up to 10 daily creation credits, access to full song generation, audio and video exports, and access to the Song Feed.
The Standard tier costs $10 a month and includes all Free features, plus audio uploads, song editing, style reduction and “negative prompting”, high-quality WAV & stem exports, more monthly credits and the ability to create more songs at the same time.
The Udio Pro subscription, priced at $30 a month, covers all features in the Standard tier, plus early access to new feature and models, and more monthly credits.
Udio said subscriptions auto-renew unless canceled 24 hours before renewal. Users can cancel their subscriptions in iOS settings.
The launch of Udio’s mobile app came as the startup recently implemented measures seemingly designed to address copyright concerns. Last month, Udio partnered with content identification platform Audible Magic to integrate audio fingerprinting technology into its platform, creating what the companies described as a “content control pipeline” to help streaming services identify AI-generated tracks and apply appropriate licensing rules.
Earlier this year, Udio launched a ‘Styles’ feature, enabling users to generate music mimicking the “sonic identity” of existing tracks. The company specified this feature “only supports uploads of content that users own or control,” though the company didn’t explain how it would ensure compliance with the policy.
The company also released an updated AI model called ‘v1.5 Allegro,’ claiming 30% faster output generation without affecting quality.
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