UMG, Sony Expand Copyright Battle Against Suno Over 60,202 Recordings

Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment have escalated their legal battle against AI music platform Suno, filing a new lawsuit alleging that the company copied 60,202 copyrighted sound recordings without permission to train its generative AI models.

The latest action, filed in a Massachusetts federal court, comes shortly after Suno launched its v6 models, developed in partnership with Warner Music Group, BMG and Believe. UMG and Sony allege that despite Suno’s claims that v6 was trained on new data, the model continues to benefit from earlier models that were trained using unlicensed recordings.

The labels argue that Suno’s earlier models were trained on their copyrighted music without authorisation and that knowledge from those models was carried into v6 through user interactions and model-development processes.

The new case follows an earlier lawsuit filed by UMG and Sony in 2024. A judge had previously declined the labels’ request to add more than 61,000 recordings to that case, directing them to pursue the additional claims separately.

The legal escalation comes as Suno has moved toward licensed AI music models, signing partnerships with Warner Music Group, BMG and Believe. UMG and Sony, however, remain in litigation with the company over its earlier models.

Suno has maintained that training its models using copyrighted material constitutes fair use, while the latest lawsuit puts renewed focus on licensing, copyright and how music companies can participate in the development of generative AI.