Learn — By WATMM Desk — · Updated
AI music class actions tracker: the cases independent artists could be part of
A living table of the six proposed class actions that musicians have brought against Suno, Udio and Google, with court, filing date, procedural stage, last development we could confirm, source and the date we read it. No class has been certified in any of them, so no musician is yet a class member.
Key facts
- Six proposed class actions by musicians are tracked here: Justice v. Suno, Justice v. Udio, Woulard v. Suno, Woulard v. Udio, Kogon v. Google and Isbell v. Suno. All are still at the pleading or early-discovery stage.
- In Justice v. Udio, Judge Hellerstein dismissed the output (derivative-works) claim with leave to amend and the Tennessee state-law claim on 21 May 2026, and let the DMCA stream-ripping claim continue.
- In Justice v. Suno, Judge Saylor refused on 20 Aug 2026 to dismiss the derivative-works and stream-ripping claims; only the Tennessee consumer-protection count went.
- Woulard v. Udio was ordered moved from Chicago to the Southern District of New York on 4 Aug 2026; Woulard v. Suno is still in Chicago, where Suno has asked the court to dismiss it or move it.
Last checked: 26 Oct 2026. A living table, re-checked against filings and dated in the changelog. A complaint makes allegations. Unless a row says a court ruled, nothing in it has been proven.
Most AI music lawsuits are fights between catalogue owners and AI companies. Our main lawsuits page tracks all of them and explains the legal questions. This page tracks a narrower set: the proposed class actions brought by musicians. These are the only cases in which a self-releasing artist who never sued anyone could end up bound by the result. Under Rule 23, once a class is certified and a settlement approved, class members are bound unless they asked to be excluded.
The tracker
| Case | Court | Filed | Stage | Last development we confirmed | Source | Date read |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Justice v. Suno | D. Mass. (Judge Saylor) | Jun 2025 | Past motion to dismiss | 20 Aug 2026: court refused to dismiss the derivative-works (output) and DMCA stream-ripping claims; dismissed only the Tennessee consumer-protection count | MBW | 26 Oct 2026 |
| Justice v. Udio (1:25-cv-05026) | S.D.N.Y. (Judge Hellerstein) | 16 Jun 2025 | Past motion to dismiss, in part | 21 May 2026: output claim dismissed with leave to amend, stream-ripping claim kept, Tennessee claim dismissed. 19 Aug 2026: motion to reconsider the state-law dismissal denied | Order, Dkt. 52; ChatGPT Is Eating the World | 26 Oct 2026 |
| Woulard v. Suno (1:25-cv-12684) | N.D. Ill. (Judge Wood) | 2025; amended 8 Dec 2025 | Motion to dismiss or transfer pending | 14 Jan 2026: Suno moved to dismiss the amended complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction or venue, or to transfer it. We found no ruling | Amended complaint; ChatGPT Is Eating the World | 26 Oct 2026 |
| Woulard v. Udio (N.D. Ill. 1:25-cv-12613, now S.D.N.Y.) | S.D.N.Y. (moved from N.D. Ill.) | 2025 | Restarting in New York | 4 Aug 2026: Judge Ellis granted transfer to New York and denied dismissal without prejudice to refiling there | Minute entry, Dkt. 36 | 26 Oct 2026 |
| Kogon v. Google (1:26-cv-02582) | N.D. Ill. | 6 Mar 2026 | Pleadings | Complaint over training for Google's music models, by the same Loevy & Loevy team and most of the same plaintiffs as Woulard. We could not open the docket on 26 Oct to confirm later steps | Complaint, Dkt. 1 | 26 Oct 2026 |
| Isbell v. Suno (1:26-cv-14005) | D. Mass. | 31 Aug 2026 | Pleadings | Publicity and biometric-privacy claims (Illinois Right of Publicity Act and BIPA, among others), not copyright. No later development confirmed | Complaint | 26 Oct 2026 |
Class certified in any of them: none that we found. "No later development confirmed" means we could not verify one, not that nothing happened. Docket-level dates, such as status hearings, are on the main lawsuits page, last checked 23 Oct.
How to read the "Stage" column
- Pleadings. The complaint is filed and the defendant attacks it, usually with a motion to dismiss.
- Past motion to dismiss. Some claims survived. Discovery, where each side gets the other's documents, follows.
- Class certification. The court decides whether the plaintiffs can sue for everyone like them. This is the step that would turn "proposed" into a real class you might be in.
- Settlement or trial. A class settlement needs court approval, and class members get notice and a chance to opt out or object (Rule 23(e)).
Every case here is at step 1 or 2.
What we think
Two things stand out from the table.
First, the output claim is split between courts. In Boston, Judge Saylor let Justice's derivative-works claim against Suno go forward without proof of a specific infringing output. In New York, Judge Hellerstein dismissed the same claim against Udio, though with leave to amend. If that split holds, which court a case lands in may matter as much as the facts. That is why the fight over moving Woulard's cases is worth watching. Udio won its transfer to New York. Suno's motion in Chicago is still undecided.
Second, the claim that keeps surviving is stream-ripping, not training. It survived in both Justice cases. It turns on how the audio was downloaded, not on whether training is fair use, so it could outlast a pro-AI fair-use ruling. For independent artists that matters. A settlement priced on stream-ripping would reward whoever can show their music was on YouTube, not only those whose work was registered. That is our reading of the pleadings, not something any court has said.
What to do now: nothing binds you until a class is certified. When it is, a notice will come, and that notice is the document to read carefully.
Sources
Court filings (primary): Justice v. Udio order; Woulard v. Suno amended complaint; Woulard v. Udio transfer order; Kogon complaint; Isbell complaint; FRCP Rule 23.
Reporting: Music Business Worldwide on Justice v. Suno; ChatGPT Is Eating the World on Justice v. Udio and Suno's motion in Woulard.
Sources
- Justice v. Uncharted Labs, No. 1:25-cv-05026, Dkt. 52: Order and opinion on the motion to dismiss (S.D.N.Y., 21 May 2026), US District Court, Southern District of New York (via CourtListener) (primary source). Accessed 26 Oct 2026.
- Woulard v. Suno, First Amended Complaint, No. 1:25-cv-12684, Dkt. 17 (N.D. Ill., 8 Dec 2025), US District Court, Northern District of Illinois (via CourtListener) (primary source). Accessed 26 Oct 2026.
- Woulard v. Uncharted Labs, No. 1:25-cv-12613, Dkt. 36: minute entry transferring the case (N.D. Ill., entered 4 Aug 2026), US District Court, Northern District of Illinois (via Music Business Worldwide) (primary source). Accessed 26 Oct 2026.
- Kogon v. Google, Complaint (proposed class action), No. 1:26-cv-02582, Dkt. 1 (N.D. Ill., 6 Mar 2026), US District Court, Northern District of Illinois (via CourtListener) (primary source). Accessed 26 Oct 2026.
- Isbell et al. v. Suno, Class Action Complaint, No. 1:26-cv-14005 (D. Mass., 31 Aug 2026), US District Court, District of Massachusetts (via Music Business Worldwide) (primary source). Accessed 26 Oct 2026.
- Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 23: Class Actions, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School (primary source). Accessed 26 Oct 2026.
- Justice v. Uncharted Labs (case coverage), ChatGPT Is Eating the World. Accessed 26 Oct 2026.
- Judge refuses to dismiss indie artist's proposed class action against Suno, Music Business Worldwide. Accessed 26 Oct 2026.
- Suno moves to dismiss musician Woulard's first amended complaint due to lack of personal jurisdiction, ChatGPT Is Eating the World. Accessed 26 Oct 2026.
Researched with AI assistance, written and checked by WATMM Desk.
Change log
- : First version. Six proposed class actions by musicians. Rows checked against court filings on RECAP and Music Business Worldwide, and legal-tracker posts, on 26 Oct 2026. CourtListener docket pages refused our requests that day, so docket-only details carried in our main lawsuits page (hearing dates, the 15 Oct stipulated order in Justice v. Udio) were not re-checked and are left out here.