Two of the world's biggest record labels are moving to shut down an unauthorized streaming app that's continued operating in Canada despite being pulled from Apple's App Store. Sony Music Group and Universal Music Group are initiating legal proceedings against the developers of Musi, an app that pulls music directly from YouTube without securing permission from artists or rights holders, mirroring the same catalog available on YouTube and YouTube Music but stripped of most or all advertising.
Musi was removed from Apple's App Store back in 2024 following a wave of copyright complaints, but the app remains accessible to anyone who had already downloaded it before its removal, allowing its user base to keep circumventing licensing agreements that govern how music is legally distributed and monetized. That continued functionality is what's now prompting the majors to take formal legal action, with the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry partnering with its Canadian affiliate, Music Canada, to represent both Sony and Universal in the case.
The labels and their industry representatives argue that Musi is unlawfully distributing copyrighted material to the public while deliberately bypassing technical safeguards that are supposed to protect that content from being lifted off YouTube in the first place.
IFPI CEO Victoria Oakley framed the lawsuit as part of a broader campaign against what the industry has taken to calling parasitic apps, services built specifically to profit off artists' work while sidestepping the licensing structures that legitimate streaming platforms operate under. Oakley said apps like Musi have no place in a music ecosystem that depends on licensing to support innovation, and expressed hope that the legal action would be reinforced by more direct intervention from app stores and the platforms these services exploit.
According to the labels, Musi has generated revenue both through subscription fees and advertising, effectively undercutting licensed competitors while denying artists royalties they would otherwise be owed for plays of their music.
Music Canada CEO Patrick Rogers echoed that sentiment, describing the litigation as a clear signal that services designed to bypass platform protections and exploit music without authorization won't be treated as legitimate businesses. Rogers said the industry plans to keep pursuing coordinated legal action to shield both artists and fans from this kind of unauthorized exploitation, adding that the ultimate goal is straightforward: making sure artists get paid whenever their music is streamed, with shutting down apps like Musi serving as one piece of that effort.
This latest action fits into a broader pattern of aggressive copyright enforcement from Canada's music industry over the past year. Earlier in 2026, Music Canada secured a groundbreaking court order from the Federal Court of Canada targeting popular YouTube stream-ripping websites, including Y2Mate, YTMP3 and Savefrom, platforms that collectively draw more than 1.7 million visitors monthly and have long been associated with facilitating illegal music downloads.
At the time, Rogers characterized the ruling as a critical step toward creating an environment where artists can reliably be compensated for their work, framing the shutdown of piracy-enabling sites as essential to that mission.
Canadian rights holders have also turned their attention toward emerging threats posed by artificial intelligence, particularly as concerns mount over AI systems trained on copyrighted music without proper licensing.
Music Publishers Canada recently weighed in on a closely watched federal case addressing generative AI and copyright law, arguing that authorship under copyright should remain exclusive to human creators.
The organization's CEO, Margaret McGuffin, called it essential for Canada's copyright framework to prioritize the interests of human creators and preserve incentives for original expression as AI technology continues to advance and complicate questions of ownership and authorship within the industry.
