Major Record Labels Sue AI Startup Suno for Alleged Copyright Violations
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Major record labels have intensified their legal battle against Suno, an AI music startup, accusing it of illegally sourcing copyrighted songs to train its generative AI models. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed an amended lawsuit on September 19th, claiming that Suno engaged in unauthorized "stream ripping" from YouTube—converting streaming content into downloadable files—and bypassed protective measures designed to prevent copying.
According to the complaint, Suno used code to access and extract copyrighted material from major labels like Universal, Sony, and Warner. The company allegedly circumvented YouTube’s encryption measures, including the platform’s “rolling cipher,” violating both YouTube’s terms of service and the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Section 1201 of the DMCA prohibits the circumvention of technological access controls, a rule originally intended to prevent digital piracy, but its broad application has extended into areas like phone unlocking and other technological repairs.
The lawsuit argues that Suno’s methods facilitated large-scale copyright infringement. Despite claims from Suno that its use of copyrighted materials falls under fair use for training AI, the legal landscape remains uncertain. Suno has not made its training datasets publicly available and has been vague about how the data was obtained. The record industry counters that Suno sourced data illegally by circumventing YouTube’s encryption technology, further supported by research from the ICMP publishers group.
This effort echoes recent legal actions, such as Anthropic’s $1.5 billion settlement over alleged book piracy, though that case is currently paused. The RIAA is seeking civil damages, including $2,500 per act of circumvention and up to $150,000 for each copyrighted work infringed. The case marks a significant push to regulate the use of copyrighted content in AI training datasets within the music industry.
Follow Jess Weatherbed for more updates on this developing story and insights into the intersection of technology and copyright law.