The world’s most popular AI music platform has struck a deal that could usher in a new era of artists getting paid by tech companies,
campaigners say. Suno, a platform that allows users to create music through text commands, announced a licensing deal with Warner
Music Group that settled a lawsuit brought by the label. Warner and other major labels have accused Suno of copyright “theft” after it
trained its AI model on large amounts of music scraped from the internet without permission from artists. More than 100 million people
have used Suno, including artists like Timbaland, and it was valued at $2.45 billion this week.
The deal is the latest between an AI music platform and the industry. Udio, a rival to Suno, struck licensing agreements with Warner,
home to Coldplay, Charli XCX, Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa and Bruno Mars, last week and Universal Music Group last month. Campaigners
say these deals are evidence that ministers do not need to go ahead with a plan to change copyright laws to try to lure AI companies
to the UK. Ed Newton-Rex, a composer and chief executive of Fairly Trained, a non-profit that certifies AI companies for fairer training
data sourcing, said the music and AI industries were “moving out of the Napster phase and into the Spotify phase”.
He compared it to when illegal music downloading was replaced by streaming. He added: “I think this is a massive win for creators.
It’s a move away from the wild west of AI companies training on whatever they like and towards a world where people pay for their
training data. What is great about this settlement and others like it is that they show that licensing is possible. I really hope that the
government looks at this and says: ‘perhaps we were mistaken when we proposed changing copyright law in a way that would have
essentially destroyed the licensing market prematurely on the basis of advice from people with huge vested interests.’” Owen Meredith,
the chief executive of the News Media Association, said: “The government must recognise that the uncertainty it has generated around
UK copyright law is stalling further progress. The secretary of state’s December update to parliament is the perfect opportunity to provide
certainty and confirm there will be no text and data mining exception, and to make clear that by stepping out of the way the government
will supercharge the growing licensing market.” Last week Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, said she wanted to “reset” the copyright
issue, indicating that she was sympathetic to artists’ demands not to have their works scraped by AI companies without payment. Under
the Suno-Warner deal the AI company will change its software and only allow the downloading of new tracks to paid users, who will also
face limits.
This is designed to stem the flow of pure AI music, which has alarmed artists who say it crowds out their work. Artists will be able to opt
in to allow their likeness and sound to be used by Suno users, who often instruct the AI to “make a track in the style of …” Suno acquired
Songkick, the live music concert discovery platform, as part of the agreement. “This landmark pact with Suno is a victory for the creative
community that benefits everyone,” said Robert Kyncl, the chief executive of Warner Music Group. Mikey Shulman, the chief executive of
Suno, said: “Our partnership with Warner Music unlocks a bigger, richer Suno experience for music lovers, and accelerates our mission to
change the place of music in the world by making it more valuable to billions of people.” Suno has still to settle lawsuits from Sony and
Universal Music Group, independent artists and collecting societies. Udio has yet to reach a deal with Sony. The Future of Music Coalition,
which lobbies for musicians’ rights, posted on X that there were “not enough details about this settlement to be able to really evaluate it”.
It added: “Opt-in only is good, and changes to the model are important but it’s no secret that plenty of musicians would prefer to see
Suno sued into oblivion.”
