Music rights company BMG has filed a lawsuit against AI firm Anthropic, alleging unauthorized use of song lyrics to train its Claude chatbot. The complaint claims infringement dates back to Anthropic's founding and involves works by artists including Justin Bieber and Bruno Mars. BMG seeks damages up to $150,000 per infringed work.
BMG filed the lawsuit on March 17, 2026, in federal court in California, accusing Anthropic of copyright infringement by using lyrics from BMG-managed compositions to train Claude. The 47-page complaint details how Anthropic allegedly scraped text from public websites, illegal pirate libraries, MusicMatch, LyricFind, and sheet music books since its 2021 founding by former OpenAI staffers. Specific examples include Claude outputting significant portions of lyrics to Bruno Mars' 'Uptown Funk,' the Rolling Stones' 'You Can’t Always Get What You Want,' Louis Armstrong’s 'What A Wonderful World,' Ariana Grande’s '7 Rings,' and 3 Doors Down’s 'Kryptonite.' Even prompts for original lyrics reportedly generate derivatives or mash-ups based on these works, the suit claims. A non-exhaustive list in the complaint identifies 467 allegedly infringed songs, potentially leading to at least $70 million in damages at the statutory maximum of $150,000 per work. BMG states it sent a cease-and-desist letter in December 2025, which Anthropic did not answer, and never authorized the use. 'Anthropic has blatantly violated the copyright laws and caused direct harm to BMG and the songwriters it proudly represents,' the lawsuit reads. 'Generations of inventors have brought revolutionary new products to market while complying with copyright law. Anthropic’s rapid development of its new technology is no excuse for its egregious law-breaking.' A BMG spokesperson added, 'Protecting the rights of those who entrust their life’s work to BMG is essential... copyright protection and fair remuneration are non-negotiable.' The suit also alleges secondary liability for users' infringements and seeks disclosure of Anthropic's training data. This follows similar cases by Universal Music Publishing Group, Concord Music, and ABKCO Music since 2023. Anthropic, recently valued at $380 billion after raising $30 billion, did not comment. It maintains fair use defenses in ongoing litigation.
