DistroKid’s UMG takedowns are pulling human artists’ songs along with AI tracks

DistroKid, the service that puts independent musicians’ songs on Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services for $24.99 a year, has confirmed to The Verge that it is removing tracks in response to claims from Universal Music Group. UMG sued DistroKid in federal court in Delaware on Sept. 15, accusing it of running an “AI-slop pipeline.” Artists say songs they made themselves are coming down too, with no warning.

The musician McGwire told The Verge he lost six songs, including a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” that he says he had licensed. One was pulled for an uncleared sample of a song that came out two years after his. A rapper said an album by an artist he works with had been up for three to four years, with no copyright strikes, before it vanished without explanation.

DistroKid’s vice president of artist services, Amanda Ferri, said “a very small number of recordings” had been removed in response to UMG’s claims. “We strongly dispute the allegations underlying UMG’s lawsuit and regret the disruption to affected artists,” she said.

The complaint, brought by UMG Recordings and two Capitol labels, runs 52 pages. Its centerpiece is a handful of accounts that post music faster than any one musician could write it.

One called “Lofi Chill” released 4,562 tracks in 12 months, about 380 a month. “Chill Flow Radio” released 1,901 and “Mellow Vibes Radio” 1,615. UMG says technical analysis found that more than 97% and 98% of those two catalogs were raw output from Suno, an app that generates songs from a text prompt, under names built to show up when someone searches for “chill” music.

UMG also says DistroKid now accounts for more than 50% of the weekly track releases on one major streaming service, which it does not name, and sent it nearly 12 million tracks in six months, more than every other distributor combined. It accuses DistroKid of letting uploaders reuse the identifying code assigned to a legitimate recording, so the copy collects that song’s streams and royalties, and of continuing to distribute tracks after admitting it had no rights to them.

The suit asks for statutory damages and for an order barring DistroKid from giving the impression that most of what it distributes are “artist-backed releases.” It also asks a judge to make DistroKid “promptly remove from all Digital Services all infringing tracks” and shut the accounts of repeat infringers. DistroKid told Variety in September it was disappointed UMG “chose litigation rather than established industry processes.”

No judge has ruled on any of it. What artists are describing this week is DistroKid acting on UMG’s claims while the case is pending, and a distributor accused of leaving infringing tracks up after being told about them has every reason to pull first. The mistakes from that land on the smallest customers in the system, solo artists with no label behind them, while a major label sits on the other side of each claim.

The complaint says it is “not about the distribution of AI-generated music when clearly disclosed as such.” Five days before it was filed, UMG announced a multiyear deal with ElevenLabs to build a fan platform for AI “remixes and mashups, new track interpretations, and personalized vocal experiences” from its catalog. The Verge noted at the time that UMG is also building an AI music platform with Udio and has AI licensing deals with Spotify, Nvidia and Klay.

Read together, UMG’s position is that AI music is fine when UMG licenses it and labels it. The lawsuit is a fight over who controls distribution, aimed at a company UMG doesn’t own. DistroKid says it is the largest digital music distributor, handling 30% to 40% of new music, and it took a majority investment from CVC Capital Partners in July at a reported $2 billion valuation.

For now, an artist whose human-made song gets swept up has DistroKid’s support line as the appeal, which McGwire reached only after what he called a “lengthy circular conversation” with a bot.

Sources

• The Verge: DistroKid has been quietly taking down songs in response to UMG lawsuit
• UMG Recordings, Capitol Records and Capitol CMG v. DistroKid: complaint, D. Del., filed Sept. 15, 2026 (PDF via Music Business Worldwide)
• Variety: Universal Music Group Sues DistroKid for Deceptive Trade Practices and Building an ‘AI-Slop Pipeline’
• Universal Music Group: UMG and ElevenLabs announce multi-year strategic agreement
• The Verge: Universal Music is launching an AI music platform with ElevenLabs