Photo credits: Towfiqu Barbhuiya
The legal showdown between the recorded music industry and generative AI has intensified as Universal Music and Sony Music moved to dramatically expand their lawsuit against Suno. The labels are now alleging over 61,000 instances of copyright infringement, a staggering increase from the 560 works cited in the initial complaint.
Central to this expansion is the labels’ use of Audible Magic technology. By deploying this audio fingerprinting tool to scan Suno’s training data, the plaintiffs claim to have confirmed that millions of copyrighted tracks were used to develop the AI models. The labels argue they were forced into this costly independent review because Suno refused to provide transparency regarding its datasets outside of the formal discovery process.
Suno has formally opposed the request to amend the lawsuit, arguing that incorporating such a massive volume of new evidence would unfairly delay the adjudication of their “fair use” defense. In response, the labels suggested that the court could address the fair use defense via summary judgment before the full discovery process for the expanded dataset is completed, asserting that Suno should not be rewarded for the covert use of intellectual property.
The proposed second amended complaint also reasserts serious allegations that Suno obtained its training recordings through “stream-ripping” from platforms like YouTube. This aggressive legal stance by Universal and Sony highlights a deepening industry divide; while they pursue litigation, Warner Music Group has notably taken a different path by striking a licensing deal with Suno, suggesting divergent strategies for navigating the AI era.
