Universal Music, Believe Settle $500 Million Copyright Case

Photo Credit: Ambre Estève

17 months later, Universal Music Group (UMG) and Believe have officially resolved their $500 million copyright infringement dispute.

Both parties confirmed their lawsuit-ending agreement today, after the presiding judge stayed the case back in late December. That stay followed a fruitful initial settlement discussion, was designed to provide more time to reach a deal, and had an April 3rd cutoff.

In other words, the newly finalized settlement was months in the making and arrived right on cue. Unsurprisingly, the litigants haven’t publicly revealed the involved terms – though they did move to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.

The original November 2024 complaint may provide a few clues about the settlement terms. As some will recall, UMG accused Believe and its TuneCore subsidiary of distributing and monetizing “a vast catalog of infringing recordings.”

Among different modified uploads, the major label pointed to unauthorized sped-up and remixed versions of tracks from well-known acts. Multiple works were put out under names resembling those of actual artists (as Llady gaga, Rihamna, etc.), according to the suit.

Modified audio has quite a presence on certain digital platforms; the better part of two years later, searching for the allegedly infringing tracks still returns a large number of similar results. But in general, the works mentioned in the action look to have been booted from leading DSPs.

(It’s a different story for the corresponding “artist” profiles, several of which seem to be pumping out infringing tracks. Additionally, it appears that a portion of the relevant works were reuploaded. Finally, evidence shows that a different distributor, best left unnamed here, is rather aggressively dealing in modified audio – is another suit in the cards for 2026?)

The pulldowns seem like an important component of the settlement – with other elements presumably focusing on stopping unauthorized distribution and different practices moving forward.

One of the different practices: “Believe has fraudulently claimed ownership of tracks available on YouTube in which the copyrights are actually owned by” UMG, thereby diverting advert revenue and causing the major “to incur the burden of repeatedly contesting” the claims, per the suit.

In the bigger picture, the apparent demand for modified audio – which, of course, wouldn’t be very prevalent at all without listeners – also raises questions about the possibility of countering the problem via authorized features in controlled digital environments.

While there are many angles to consider, Spotify this past October scored AI deals with Merlin, Believe, and the major labels alike.