Alice in Chains' Sean Kinney Shares Health Update Following Tour Cancellation: ‘I'm Going to Live'
Just days after suffering a 'non-life-threatening medical emergency' that necessitated the cancellation of their spring tour, Alice in Chains drummer Sean Kinney has provided fans with an update to his health.
The legendary grunge outfit had initially been scheduled to perform at Connecticut's Mohegan Sun Arena on May 8, though announced the show's cancellation after Kinney suffered a medical emergency following their soundcheck.
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An additional five shows over the next week, including appearances at the Sonic Temple Art & Music and Welcome to Rockville festival, had been scheduled but were cancelled one day later on May 9.
'While we were all eager to return to the stage, Sean's health is our top priority at this moment,' the band wrote in a statement. 'Although the issue requires immediate attention, his long-term prognosis is positive.'
Now Kinney – one of two remaining founding members of the band, alongside guitarist Jerry Cantrell – has issued his own statement, apologizing to fans for the short-notice cancellation and outlining his experiences dealing with the unspecified medal issue.
'I was very much looking forward to getting back out there and playing with the band again, and it's been a difficult but necessary decision to make,' Kinney wrote on social media. 'I don't personally utilize social media and I'm not particularly fond of my health issues being made public, but I understand that people are concerned.'
Kinney explained that doctors advised against him performing in the short-term, coming to terms with his situation after a quick trip through the five stages of grief.
'I finally concluded that medical doctors with many hard-earned degrees on their walls might know a bit more about health than a musician with some shiny spray-painted records on his wall,' he explained. 'The outpouring of love, concern and well wishes has been both extremely humbling and very much appreciated.
'The good news is that I'm going to be fine and I'm going to live,' he concluded. 'The bad news (for some of you?) is that I'm going to be fine and I'm going to live.'
Alice in Chains' cancelled run of dates were to be their first live appearances since performing at Las Vegas' Sick New World festival in April 2024.
Currently, their website lists only one upcoming date, which is the Back to the Beginning concert in England on July 5, and boasts a lineup featuring Black Sabbath, Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax and myriad others.
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This echoes the labels' early equity positions in Spotify, which later became highly lucrative, but also controversial, as artists had little visibility or participation in those deals. One reason the majors are negotiating from a position of strength: many have likely registered copyrights with the U.S. Copyright Office that they believe Suno and Udio used for training. If proven, that could expose the startups to statutory damages, potentially amounting to hundreds of millions in liability. 'The crucial point in the Suno and Udio licensing discussions,' said Liz Cimarelli, Head of Business Development at Cosynd, a platform that simplifies copyright registration and ownership tracking for creators, 'is that the major labels have likely registered copyrights with the Copyright Office that they believe these companies used for training their AI models. Given the potential statutory damages of $150,000 per willful infringement, this could serve as a significant negotiating advantage for the majors.' But she also warned: 'The risk for the wider industry is that the major labels might agree to terms that set a low standard for everyone else. Without new legislation, policy changes, or infrastructure, this could diminish the economic opportunities that AI should offer. Generative AI has already been predicted to cost music creators $22B in income over the next five years. How low can we go?'. Lastly, there's a nod toward creator control: artist opt-outs for certain use cases such as vocal cloning. But crucially, there's no sign yet of a rights framework that would allow artists to license (or deny) their work directly, nor clarity on how royalties will be tracked or distributed at the artist level. For many creators, this feels less like consent and more like default inclusion with an escape clause. And as Oron makes clear, none of this addresses songwriters' rights: 'AI companies must seek permission from all relevant rights holders, not just the labels. Without compositions and lyrics written by humans, there's nothing for SUNO or Udio to offer.' For attribution advocates, the stakes are higher than just tracking AI training inputs, it's about future leverage. 'Flat licensing without attribution is blind licensing,' said Dr. Tamay Aykut, founder and CEO of Sureel AI. 'Artists (and their labels) would lose control and could end up competing against their own AI derivatives. Labels can't price what they can't measure, and AI can't avoid what it can't track. Attribution is the difference between knowing and guessing and if they are indeed pursuing licenses, then neutral attribution can only strengthen their hand with the AI companies who want to do the right thing.' Aileen Crowley, co-president of Sureel AI, added: 'As an industry, we must come together to demand that licensing only happen when an independent attribution system is in place. Any future licensing deals must guarantee that rights holders can clearly and effectively exclude their works, and only attribution technology can deliver this level of control and transparency.' That sentiment was echoed by Benji Rogers, also co-president at Sureel AI: 'Opt-in and opt-out rights must be non-negotiable, and only neutral attribution can provide this level of transparency and protection.' These licensing negotiations could define not only the outcome of current litigation but the licensing infrastructure for AI music globally. Three distinct scenarios are emerging: In one scenario, licensed acceleration, the majors strike a deal this summer. Suno and Udio integrate attribution and payment systems, and AI-generated remix tools launch inside premium tiers. Labels win a new revenue line, and high-profile artists who embrace the tech gain visibility. But those who opt out, or were never consulted, get left behind. In a second, stalemate, negotiations collapse and lawsuits drag on. If Trump-era regulators tilt toward AI-friendly fair use policies, case law may erode the legal basis for any future licensing obligations. In the third, patchwork, one or two majors settle, others hold out, and AI companies develop regionalized tools trained on different catalogs. The result is a fragmented landscape that mirrors the dysfunctional world of sync licensing. Amid all the strategy, five foundational questions remain unanswered: This is not just a music industry story. It's a proxy for how every creative sector, from writing to voice acting to film, navigates the shift from human artistry to machine synthesis. For the majors, this may feel like the inevitable next step in monetizing technological disruption. But for the artists, songwriters, and composers whose music trained the machines, this is about power, authorship, and cultural survival. As with the rise of streaming, the question isn't whether the business will change, it's whether the people who make the music will be allowed to shape that change. As AI music licensing negotiations between AI startups and major rights holders quietly unfold, songwriters, composers, and performers are once again fighting for a seat at a table where their work is the main asset, but their voices remain Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment were contacted for comment. As of publication, neither had responded.
