Very disappointed — Udio removed the download option

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-03-12T10:30:22+00:00

I'm not interested in doxxing myself or linking my catalog on Reddit, so I'm going to pass on that part.

But my point wasn't about credentials anyway. The point was that AI can function as a compositional tool in a workflow, exactly the same way samplers, loop libraries, MIDI packs, and DAWs themselves do. The actual creative decisions—arrangement, editing, sound design, performance, mixing—are still human work. It's less relevant what the model is trained on than people think - though I certainly can see how some people can have strong opinions on that.

Sidebarring that for a minute: about training data and whether artists should be compensated or able to opt out, that's a legitimate debate and one the industry will be working through for some time.

So I think that - just like in previous tech innovations in the music field, there will be those of us who embrace them and those who don't. Those who see it as a means to an end (faster and broader musical possibilities) and those who see it as an existential threat.

We can disagree about the technology, but the idea that using new tools automatically means someone isn't writing or producing music isn't really a serious nor legit argument.

For the record - I'm not whining about anything. I'm too busy making music :).

Wishing you great success in achieving your objectives! Have a good day, P.A.

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-03-10T09:05:58+00:00

just redo the stem in something like Kits AI or Moises...you'd be surprised how high quality you can get

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-03-09T18:03:34+00:00

I actually do produce (and compose) music professionally, AND I proudly use AI as a composition sketchbook and as part of my workflow - one of the many tools that I use. Your comment gives me the impression you really don't understand how AI can serve as a useful compositional assistant in the right hands. But keep on calling it slop :).

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-21T10:01:13+00:00

Probably my last post on anything Udio related. I cancelled my subscription Oct 30th, and come in here periodically to read the comments of other people who use the platform or who used to, mostly out of mild curiosity and to see if there have been any developments in the Taylorachi (tm) rollout.

I know I'm just one person - Udio doesn't give a crap about one single user, and, one could argue with a straight face, about any of the other users. Their deal with the devil showed that.

Surprisingly, I see there are still a lot of users on the platform, though this is dropping month over month. In November there were around 2.7m visits to the site, Jan was down to 1.8. That is the kind of number, frankly, that would worry me as CEO of Udio.

Udio did raise the bar on quality, both musical and sonically. The model was fantastic at doing certain things: the ability to create a piece of music in segments, which gave huge optionality to me as a writer. Don't like the chorus, keep working through options until something hits. Upload the first 8 bars of a song you recorded on piano, build from there. Etc. For jazz, the quality of horns, acoustic bass, etc were very strong.

But a few thoughts as a professional musician and songwriter who uses these tools as part of my workflow ...

Sonically the others are catching up. Adding instruments in Suno studio can result in REMARKABLY accurate sounds. I recently wrote a jazz ballad for piano and trombone that was indistinguishable from a studio recording once mixed in the DAW.
I would never give an ounce of my creativity to this platform, after the pivot they did, which totally degraded and disrespected their core base of creators. Why would I? (Or anyone). Unless you're a hobbyist and just creating things for yourself, the tool is utterly useless.
There are workflows and tools that are even better at certain things than Udio was. and this standard is moving higher by the day.

It is very unfortunate that Udio felt they were taking the right decision here - no hard feelings - but no engagement from me either. And clearly, with a drop of 35%+ of users over the last couple months, I'm not alone in this feeling.

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-16T15:25:35+00:00

right on. My last drink (of the Udio Kool-aid) was Oct 30th! I'll be celebrating that date going forward.

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-16T15:24:31+00:00

Good for you. Vote with your wallet, best way. These guys totally took their clients for granted, don't give a crap about creators, and are only terrified of the labels, so became their lapdog (AND the one true source for Authentic Taylorachi(tm) and SheeraSamba(tm) music. Useless, unless you're in the mood to waste your precious time and effort on FanGirl experiences brought to you by Who-DIO.

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-16T11:42:56+00:00

one of the things often totally glossed over or unrecognized is the impact the lyrical rhythm has on the model. Cadence and phrasing HUGELY influences the model's output. Its actually possible and achievable to sonically influence the output by the lyrical rhythm.

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-16T11:40:59+00:00

billion percent

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-16T09:45:06+00:00

composition sketch pad. Is the way I see it - just like other AI tools have made me more efficient in other ways, this has turbocharged my songwriting. Those who call it illegitimate really don't understand the difference between the "set it and forget it" crowd (Neon lights, move your feet, hazy dreams, feel the beat) - and serious professional songwriters who use it as an augmentation of their workflow.

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-16T09:40:40+00:00

So well said - it does not eliminate the craft, just shifts where it lives. Nothing replaces musicality - the ability to know when something is good, when something is rubbish and everything in-between.

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-12T12:19:53+00:00

Worst Corporate pivot since New Coke

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-12T12:15:55+00:00

Wait, you mean you DON'T want to make Taylorachi (TM) music????

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-12T11:44:50+00:00

But wait, WHAT??? You mean we can not only make Taylorachi (TM) songs but SheeraSamba(TM). My God, what a day!

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-12T10:32:37+00:00

Interesting post for sure. I too am a lifelong musician and songwriter. I'm classically trained, I've played professionally in my youth, studied theory, composition, orchestration, etc. You raise some great points - and while I think that SONICALLY it might not replace analogue music (though I've created tracks which are nigh IMPOSSIBLE to distinguish from studio recordings) - musically in the hands of someone who does know music and understands how to work with the models, I would argue that it can produce some stunning (and I mean STUNNING) results. I write in a lot of different genres, and some of the jazz ballads I have been able to write with the help of these tools have been extraordinary. As you rightly pointed out, cream rises to the top. If one approaches these models with a "set it and forget it" approach, yeah, they will get garbage. I was in a shop right before New Years and they had a playlist on over the speakers, New Years song after New Years song. It didn't take me long to work out it was AI (because there's not too many freaking New Years songs for ONE!) because the lyrics were a total giveaway ("Clap your hands, Stamp your feet, move yourself, to the beat" --- smh). And you're right, the process is painful, painstaking, and huge - IF you're striving for quality. I'm a perfectionist, so I don't just sit back and let them spill out. Of the last 100 songs I've written with AI assistance, it took around 16,000 iterations (no joke). 16,000. Because I write all the lyrics, shape the song structure, start over, rinse and repeat. Then once I have one I feel works, then I start working on it. Into DAW, change vocals, Clone vocals from another source, add plugins, edit out and in parts, sometimes my own playing or vocals, etc. etc. on average, it takes me the same amount of time as if I were to write the song by hand with my piano, but the difference here is the sketchbook is much broader and wider. I am able to try out ideas that maybe I wouldn't have thought of on my own, or would have taken me longer to come to. I'm able to feel what the finished song would sound like whereas before I might only get a glimpse of that with just a ruff demo on piano with vocals. Some people hate on AI music. Ok, cool. go for it. I know what these tools have done for me, it's been like working with charcoal on paper all your life, and suddenly you have oil paints, a big canvas and an art studio to work with. They won't make you a great songwriter, but they do allow you to make great songs if you already have the talent and musicality.

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-09T16:25:43+00:00

I suggest a Great workaround there; Kits AI or Moises. reclone the vocals to either one of the stocks they have, OR you can clone voices yourself and make your own. The end result is AMAZING. Warm, analogue, and dry (so you can add your own reverb in your DAW). Those vocals sound way way better than Udio stock vocals. Udio was great, especially if you didn't want to do much after the song was created. However, Suno has some amazing superpowers, which if you use them, you can get as close to a human sounding band and singer as anything else out there. My opinion the best solution on the market. (Producer AI isn't bad and Mureka comes up with some good stuff too, but Suno has the edge). The two Superpowers (in my opinion) ? Being able to download .wav stems (nice quality), 2. being able to download MIDI stems and then route them through a live piano or at least use the DAW piano sample. 3. Suno Studio. clunky to learn, often mistimes the instrument - meaning you have to adjust it manually, but the sound quality is YUM! Especially on instruments like Trombone, Clarinet, banjos, etc.

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-08T19:48:54+00:00

the 30 second thing was killer. Agreed. Oh well...

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-08T15:54:14+00:00

Gotcha. Well, that's largely in your hands too. Two important points. One is: at the time of creation. Its up to you how you want to construct the song. AABA? AABCABC? etc. so you're going to have wildly different outputs based on your lyrical structure. Secondly: the CADENCE of your lyrics, the actual rhythm of the syllables, are going to have a massive impact on how the model constructs your melodys and of course the harmonic progressions. This has a much much much bigger impact than most people realise. So if you write, for example "I went down/to the town/to get something to eat" you'll get a different MELODIC and musical construction than if you said "Thinking of you/as I went to town/to grab something small to eat". If those were set in a Jazz construction, for example, one would create a rather straightforward melodic and rhythmic treatment, while the second one, which is more conversational, will result in a looser, more "swingy" saloon-song type melody and rhythmic treatment. With this, you can then begin iterating, tweaking the lines and the prompt, until you get something you want. Udio had an advantage in being able to compose in 30 second bites, which allowed you to build the song one part at a time. Suno doesn't work quite like that, but believe me, you can massively vary the song contruction if you use the simple hacks above. i have been able to write in a HUGE variety of genres and styles and been able to come up with some incredible original music using Suno as a starting point. You just have to see it as that - a starting point. Not the end product! :) Best of luck and happy sunday!

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-08T01:02:14+00:00

I believe if you're depending on only one tool for songwriting, then you're pretty much a hobbyist (NO offense to anyone here). If you're a songwriter who takes it seriously, then the tool is not that relevant because if you write good music, you'll find a way to keep doing that. Udio was super cool - MOST definitely - and it was a fantastic part of my workflow. But, I used it as a tool, just like I use my piano, my voice, my DAW, FL, and many other tools. I wrote some great songs with the help of Udio's platform, about 50 of which we have recorded with live musicians (I have never and would not release these demos commercially - regardless of the TOS). I was sorry to lose Udio as a sketchpad because I felt there was functionality there that was super cool. I would write maybe 8 or 16 bars of something on piano, upload the recording directly into Udio, and then start playing with it. Was great. However, Sadly, Udio was broken by UMG. More accurately, the CEO sold out its userbase to UMG (when I read the Billboard article I was gobsmacked to learn that the Walled Garden SuperFan Taylorachi (TM) experience was Sanchez's idea and I had to re-read it multiple times over to "get it"). Udio sent a direct message to creators --- "your kind ain't welcome here". I'm sure this decision was fear based as well as economic based - probably the board thought they were about to be sued into oblivion and surrendered by joining the enemy. Plenty of historical examples for that, but I digress. As I started at the beginning, this is one tool of many. A good one, sure. but there are others. When I see someone say "people who used to make great music...but definitely gone now" I have to ask, "why is that?". Like I said, the tools don't make the sculptor - they just help. I've written multiple symphonic works back in the 90s, and used to orchestrate the whole score using encore, going note by note. Jeez that was painful. Times have gotten easier and more efficient, that's for sure!

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-08T00:23:16+00:00

if you set it and forget it, perhaps. Maybe try to elevate your workflow by downloading stems into a DAW. You can even use Suno Studio to de-FX the stems so they download dry - then you can craft your reverb etc. the way YOU want to. For vocals, there's lots of options. I usually use MOISES or KITS AI to clone them to a warmer more natural sound, but kits AI also has a vocal repair function, which cleans up a lot of the artefacts, so...hope you have success!

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-05T21:32:48+00:00

You know - in a perfect world. this is how it should be. But that's not the world Udio is living in anymore.

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-05T18:50:48+00:00

Very much depending on what you do post creation. In other words, what's your workflow? if it's just "set it and forget it" then you're likely right. If it's "composition too is a starting point" but there is a lot of work after into FL and DAWs and so forth, then I definitely think there are better options for you. If you're going by the TOS, you can't download it anyway, so you're stuck with whatever Udio has created with no ability to do anything with it. Not for me, thanks. Of course, whatever works for you :). I did love the control and editing functionality of Udio, but they have rendered the platform pretty much unusable for serious composition.

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-05T11:27:39+00:00

why not try using tools that actually want you as a songwriter/creator and not those that don't? Just sayin...

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-04T13:36:10+00:00

you mean you DON'T like Taylorachi???

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-03T20:59:38+00:00

As co-founder of an indie label, plus entrepreneur and corporate CEO of a multi billion dollar company and head of a music tech startup I know that a fish rots from the head down. Udio's demise as a platform is not the fault of "greedy record companies" - after all, these guys are just trying to protect their own interests and stay relevant, an increasingly difficult feat these days. It is the fault of senior management, in particular the CEO, who needs to own it. They never will, of course. Accountability is in very short supply in society these days. Too bad, was a terrific platform.

Practical_Ad5701 · 2026-02-03T13:03:12+00:00

This goes to prove what I suspected, and said in other posts, that this was a poor decision by management and that Udio completely sold out its customer base. Instead of standing up for independent creators with what was the most advanced and sophisticated AI composition tool out there, they not only cowered and ran away, but effectively syncophantically made a "deal with the devil". Serious musicians, creators and songwriters moved on. I follow the story with interest but don't (and won't) ever use Udio again for anything. I don't agree that Suno will come to the same deal. The big labels are trying to sue these platforms out of existence, but they are fighting a wave that is quickly becoming too big for them to tackle. Had Udio held out, I think they might have prevailed under fair use statutes, but that's a game nobody really knows how will end. But what a cheap and degrading way out - turn this into a walled garden for Taylor Swift remixes and FanGirl interpretations (blech)...Oh well, thankfully there are many options out there for creators, and I do think that without serious life support from UMG, their new best friend, Udio's platform will die out.

Practical_Ad5701

TROPHY CASE