Sony and UMG File Second Lawsuit Against Suno, Claiming New AI Model Still Relies on Pirated Music

Sony Music and Universal Music Group have launched a second legal challenge against the AI music startup Suno, contending that its newly released v6 model continues to infringe copyright protections despite earlier settlements with some industry players. The suit escalates tensions over how generative music systems should handle training data.

The Core Complaint#

The record labels characterize Suno's approach as "model laundering"—a practice they argue obscures the underlying copyright violations embedded in each successive iteration. According to their filing, v6 was constructed by learning from outputs generated by earlier Suno models, which themselves relied on material sourced from YouTube and other platforms without proper licensing. The labels claim this chain of training doesn't erase the original infringement; instead, it perpetuates it under a new guise.

What Suno Says About v6#

When introducing the v6 model, Suno's Jack Brody stated it was "trained from the ground up, with a new set of data," incorporating content from users. However, the company provided minimal specifics about the training process. When pressed further, Suno acknowledged that user-generated creations factored into the dataset but declined to elaborate on other sources or methodology.

The Technical Dispute#

Sony's complaint also alleges that Suno employed a technique called distillation—training a new model to mimic the output of earlier "teacher" models that relied on infringing data. According to the labels' argument, this method cannot cleanse a model of its tainted origins. They contend that any model benefiting from Suno's retained copies of unauthorized recordings, whether direct or indirect, remains compromised.

Industry Context#

Sony and Universal remain notable holdouts, having declined to sign licensing agreements with Suno—unlike some other major labels that have reached accommodation deals. This second lawsuit underscores their determination to challenge what they see as an inadequate response to copyright concerns.