Udio, a platform specializing in AI-generated music, has announced a 48-hour window starting Monday for users to download their tracks. This decision comes as the company prepares to transition to a new business model following a legal settlement.

The temporary download period follows Udio’s recent settlement of copyright infringement allegations made by Universal Music. This label represents major artists such as Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar.

The AI industry as a whole is grappling with numerous copyright lawsuits. Recently, the tech lobby group Chamber of Progress urged President Donald Trump to issue an executive order. This order would direct federal lawyers to support the development of generative AI tools, which often rely on copyrighted material for training.

Faced with over 50 ongoing federal lawsuits, the Chamber of Progress is seeking intervention to prevent legal battles that could impose severe penalties, potentially stifling AI innovation. Meanwhile, artists argue that AI tools developed using their work pose a threat to their careers.

In a significant legal resolution, AI firm Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement, equating to $3,000 per book, to resolve claims from authors. These authors accused the company of illegally using nearly half a million books to train its chatbot.

Udio and Universal didn’t disclose the financial terms of their new music licensing agreements. They also said they will team up on a new streaming platform.

As part of the agreement, Udio immediately stopped allowing people to download songs they’ve created, which sparked a backlash and apparent exodus among paying users.

“We know the pain it causes to you,” Udio later said in a post on Reddit’s Udio forum, where users were venting about feeling betrayed by the platform’s surprise move and complained that it limited what they could do with their music.

Udio said it still must stop downloads as it transitions to a new streaming platform next year. But over the weekend, it said it will give people 48 hours starting at 11 a.m. Eastern time Monday to keep their “past creations.”

“Udio is a small company operating in an incredibly complex and evolving space, and we believe that partnering directly with artists and songwriters is the way forward,” said Udio’s post.

The settlement deal was the music industry’s first since Universal, along with Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Records, sued Udio and another AI song generator, Suno, last year over copyright infringement.

Udio and Suno pioneered AI song generation technology, which can spit out new songs based on prompts typed into a chatbot-style text box. Users, who don’t need musical talent, can merely request a tune in the style of, for example, classic rock, 1980s synth-pop or West Coast rap.

Record labels have accused the platforms of exploiting the recorded works of artists without compensating them.

In its lawsuit filed against Udio last year, Universal sought to show how specific AI-generated songs made on Udio closely resembled Universal-owned classics like Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” The Temptations’ “My Girl,” ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” and holiday favorites like “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “Jingle Bell Rock.”

A musician-led group, the Artist Rights Alliance, said Friday that the Universal-Udio settlement represents a positive step in creating a “legitimate AI marketplace” but raised questions about whether independent artists, session musicians and songwriters will be sufficiently protected from AI practices that present an “existential threat” to their careers.

“Licensing is the only version of AI’s future that doesn’t result in the mass destruction of art and culture,” the group said. “But this promise must be available to all music creators, not just to major corporate copyright holders.”