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 RIAA vs. Music Startups: Suno claims to have used Copyrighted Songs

Key Points:
- The RIAA has filed a lawsuit against music startups Udio and Suno for using copyrighted tracks.
- Suno has admitted to training its artificial intelligence model using copyrighted music, claiming it falls under the fair use doctrine.
- Mikey Shulman, CEO of Suno, defended the practice, likening it to a musician learning to listen to and be inspired by existing songs.
- The RIAA rejected the argument, calling the practice a large-scale infringement of artists’ rights.

In a major legal development, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed a lawsuit against startups Udio and Suno, accusing them of using copyrighted music to train their AI models. The dispute, which began on June 24, saw a significant advance last Thursday when Suno admitted in a legal filing that it used copyrighted tracks.

According to the document filed in court, Suno said its model was trained on "tens of millions of recordings," many of which are owned by the plaintiffs, namely the record labels represented by the RIAA. Mikey Shulman, CEO and co-founder of Suno, further clarified the company’s position in a blog post published the same day as the legal filing.

Shulman explained that Suno used songs found on the "open internet" to train its models, stating that this approach is no different than a young musician learning to write rock songs after listening to the genre. "Learning is not a violation," Shulman wrote. "It never has been and it is not now."

The RIAA responded firmly, calling Suno’s statement a "big concession of facts" that the company has tried to hide until now. "Their infringement on an industrial scale does not qualify as ’fair use,’" the RIAA said. "There is nothing fair about stealing an artist’s life’s work, extracting its core value and repackaging it to compete directly with the originals."

The issue of fair use is complex, and with the advent of AI, the legal challenges associated with it are becoming increasingly intricate. The outcome of this case could set an important legal precedent, defining the future of the music industry and AI use in the field.

Suno’s admission highlighted a growing issue: the use of copyrighted content to train AI models. While technology companies argue that the practice is within the bounds of fair use, record labels and artists see it as a threat to their rights and earnings.

The current debate could have significant repercussions not only for the companies involved, but also for the entire music industry and the regulation of AI use in the coming years.