AI music company Suno is battling a lawsuit from major record labels. Founder Mikey Shulman denies claims of copyright violation, viewing the legal action as an attempt to stifle innovation.
In late June, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) members, representing major labels, sued Suno and rival Udio. They claim the companies infringed on label copyrights with data used to train their music AI.
Suno co-founder Mikey Shulman now refutes these allegations in a blog post. He sees the lawsuit as the music industry's latest move to restrict progress, similar to past reactions to sampling, drum machines, remixes, MP3s, and streaming.
Shulman argues the labels misunderstand Suno's technology. The AI learns music styles, patterns, and forms - essentially the "grammar" of music - then creates new compositions. He compares this to a child learning to write rock songs by "listening religiously to rock music."
The lawsuit's timing surprised Suno, says Shulman, as the company had just held "productive discussions with a number of the RIAA's major record label members to find ways of expanding the pie for music together."
Shulman insists learning isn't copyright infringement. Google and other AI companies make similar arguments, though a "fair use" ruling is still pending. Suno has also taken steps to prevent duplication of training material content.
Suno's competitor Udio echoes these sentiments: learning from data is supposedly fair use, and Udio is just a new tool for creators.
"Generative AI models, including our music model, learn from examples. Just as students listen to music and study scores, our model has 'listened' to and learned from a large collection of recorded music," Udio stated.
Udio's recently unveiled 1.5 model can generate recordings nearly indistinguishable from human-made music.
