Elvis's licensing group says Anthropic trained its AI on 274 Presley songs without permission and wants about $41 million. Here is why it matters beyond music.
The company that owns Elvis Presley's music and likeness has sued AI company Anthropic. The suit says Anthropic used 274 Presley songs to train its AI models without getting permission. The group is asking for $150,000 per song, which adds up to about $41 million.
Billboard reported the news first. The plaintiff is Authentic Brands Group, a licensing group that holds the rights to Presley's music and image. It accuses Anthropic of infringing the rights to those 274 songs by using them to train its models. Training means feeding an AI system huge amounts of material so it learns patterns and can make new content.
Songs named in the suit include:
These are claims in a lawsuit. They have not been proven in court. The material does not include a response from Anthropic.
Anthropic has faced similar claims before. In August, Round Hill Music sued Anthropic and the AI music company Suno. It named "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls, "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler and "I Got You (I Feel Good)" by James Brown. Round Hill says the songs were used without authorization, licensing or payment.
Other music publishers have filed cases too. Reservoir Media is suing Anthropic and Suno over songs by Joni Mitchell, Johnny Cash, Madonna and others. BMG is suing Anthropic over lyrics by artists including Bruno Mars and The Beatles.
Not every case is about copying songs. Jason Isbell, Guy Forsyth, Ed Calle and David Lowery have filed a class action against Suno. They say it violates their rights of publicity under state laws. That means using a person's name or identity without permission. Their complaint says typing an artist's name into Suno can produce a song, a description and an image that evoke that musician.
Some disputes are also ending in deals. Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group settled with Uncharted Labs, the company behind AI music startup Udio, and set up licensing partnerships. Sony is still pursuing its lawsuit.
These cases will help decide what AI tools are allowed to learn from, and whether the people who made the original work get paid. That question reaches past music to any business or creator whose work is posted online. In 2024, more than 200 musicians, including Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj and Jon Bon Jovi, signed an open letter warning against the "predatory use of AI" in music.
The material does not say when the Presley case will be heard or how Anthropic will answer. The number of similar suits suggests more could follow, and some may end in licensing deals like the ones at Udio.
Courts are starting to decide whether AI companies must pay for the work they learn from, and the Elvis case adds a famous name to that fight.
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