Llama Group, the company that owns the well-known music player Winamp and the music platform Jamendo, has taken legal action against NVIDIA and AI music startup Suno. NVIDIA and Suno are accused of using Jamendo’s music catalog without permission to train their AI models.
The issue was discovered at the end of 2024 when Jamendo’s community pointed out articles online that suggested NVIDIA and Suno were using its licensed music for their AI training datasets. It was pretty questionable whether this use was legal if true. According to Llama Group, an investigation showed that public documents hinted at Jamendo’s catalog being used in both the SunoAI Foundation Model and NVIDIA’s Non-Vocal Model.
Jamendo, which was founded in 2004, supports independent artists and features over 70,000 musicians with a catalog of more than 600,000 tracks. It uses Creative Commons licenses that allow free personal use of music but strictly forbids unauthorized commercial use. So you can use it for free personally, but not commercially.
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Winamp’s Code Pulled From GitHub Following Messy Release
The open-source release of Winamp, a popular audio player, has gone particularly badly. It has been deleted from GitHub, possibly due to the controversy and confusion surrounding it.
If the accusation gets to court, then whether training AI is for commercial use is what would be up for debate. While AI ends up being commercially, the creation could go either way. NVIDIA could argue that it’s not stealing if someone else’s paintings influence you to do an original work, which is technically what AI is doing. However, when it comes to programming and code, everything must be original unless licensed.
After finding out about the alleged unauthorized use of its catalog, Jamendo reached out to both NVIDIA and Suno. However, these efforts to solve the problem peacefully were unsuccessful, as neither company responded to multiple inquiries. Consequently, Jamendo has hired a well-known international law firm to formally request explanations and responses within a month. Llama Group plans to escalate the legal actions if they don’t get a satisfactory reply.
This public way of calling out NVIDIA and Suno is likely to show that Jamendo took the time to try to find a peaceful outcome. However, it tends to cost a lot of money to get a legal team, and Jamendo will likely want to be compensated for the price.
Llama Group is also still working on a new version of Winamp. This new edition goes beyond the traditional music player, adding features to create closer connections between artists and fans. The new Winamp platform also includes a “Fanzone,” designed to help creators set up tiered subscription plans and sell products like merchandise.
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The New Winamp Is Here, but It’s Not What You’d Expect
Winamp was a popular music player program in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and recently it’s back under active development. A completely new version of Winamp is now available, but it’s pretty different than the original version.
Llama Group pursuing legal steps against alleged copyright violations while releasing its code under restrictive terms sends an ominous message. The company obviously must protect artists’ rights, but this could scare away anyone who is already uncomfortable with the restrictions placed on community development through the Winamp code release.
Rights in today’s music industry have been debated since Napster, and that likely won’t end anytime soon. However, the legal case against NVIDIA and Suno will likely set precedents for AI and music. A loss or a win will either lead to a flood gate opening or fewer studios pursuing AI focused on music.
Source: Llama Group
