Suno Tops Apple Music App Chart Amid Copyright Lawsuits and Artist Backlash

In November 2025, Suno settled with Warner Music Group and struck a deal to use licensed recordings for its music generation model and limit downloads to paid subscribers. 7 billion in revenue in 2025. 4 billion in revenue in 2025.

Universal remains in settlement talks with Suno. In June 2025, Tony Justice, a Knoxville, Tennessee-based independent country artist known for “Last of the Cowboys” and “Life on 18 Wheels,” filed a class action lawsuit against Suno along with thousands of other artists alleging copyright infringement. The lawsuit is ongoing.

In 2024, approximately 200 artists including Katy Perry, Billie Eilish and Nicki Minaj called out AI companies for training models on artists’ work without permission. ” He also said: “What we do isn't illegal. ” Shulman said: “We've become the Ozempic of the music industry.

He added: “I don't want to get to a world where there's a distinction between AI-generated music and non-AI generated music. ” Robert Kyncl, CEO of Warner Music Group, said the partnership with Suno is a “newfound revenue” source that the company can share with artists and songwriters who opt in.

Michael Nash, chief digital officer and executive vice president at Universal Music Group, said AI-generated songs should be restricted to dedicated applications and not be downloaded and shared across social media and streaming platforms.

Ron Gubitz, executive director at the Music Artists Coalition, said: “There’s a limited number of ears in the world and a limited number of minutes or hours that people can listen to music. ” Tony Justice said his income has taken a hit due to AI-generated songs on streaming apps and that he has had to seek sponsors.

Diplo said he doesn’t need anyone to sing his songs anymore because AI voices are so good.

Alex Pall and Drew Taggart of the Chainsmokers have used Suno and Udio to generate ideas for songs. Pharrell Williams has said AI can help with the “minutiae” of song making. am is teaching a course on AI agents at Arizona State University and has said 2026 is the last year that only humans walk the red carpet for Grammys.

Rapper Thurz started using Suno about a year ago to create his most recent album. He pays a $24 monthly subscription to Suno instead of paying estates 65% of copyright and royalties for samples. A song called “I Run” by producer Haven went viral on TikTok, trended on Billboard charts and reached 13 million streams on Spotify before being removed.

After being removed for artist impersonation, “I Run” was re-recorded with a human voice and has been streamed more than 160 million times. 3 million monthly users. Google acquired ProducerAI in February and trained its music generation model Lyria 3.

Deezer said 75,000 AI tracks are uploaded every day, making up about 44% of total daily uploads. Spotify purged 75 million “spammy” tracks last fall. AI music accounts for 1% to 3% of total streams according to Deezer.

85% of streams on AI-generated songs were deemed fraudulent in 2025 according to Deezer.