Sony and Universal Music Group sue Suno again over v6 AI music model

Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group have filed a second copyright infringement lawsuit against AI music generator Suno, targeting its new v6 model. The labels allege "model laundering," claiming Suno trained v6 on outputs from previous models that relied on unlicensed YouTube rips of 60,202 copyrighted recordings. While Suno has secured licensing deals with Warner Music Group, BMG, and Believe, Sony and UMG remain holdouts, seeking statutory damages that could exceed $9 billion.

Details of the copyright lawsuit

• ▪Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group's second copyright infringement lawsuit against Suno, filed in the District of Massachusetts on September 18, 2026, asserts infringement over 60,202 sound recordings.
• ▪The record labels seek statutory damages of up to $150,000 per work for willful infringement and up to $2,500 per act of YouTube circumvention, totaling over $9 billion.

Suno's licensing agreements with labels

• ▪Warner Music Group signed a licensing agreement with Suno in November 2025, followed by BMG on August 12, 2026, and Believe on September 8, 2026.
• ▪Suno released its v6 AI music model nine days later than Believe's September 8 licensing deal, utilizing licensed catalogs from Warner Music Group, BMG, and Believe

Allegations of illegal model training

• ▪Sony and Universal Music Group accuse Suno of model laundering, alleging it used distillation to train its v6 model to replicate results of previous teacher models created using unlicensed music ripped from YouTube.
• ▪Sony and Universal Music Group's complaint against Suno alleges that Suno committed circumvention by stream-ripping audio from YouTube in breach of YouTube's terms of service and Section 1201(a)
• ▪The record labels' complaint alleges that Suno built its models by training on tens of millions of recordings, presumably including works owned by the plaintiffs.

Musician disputes and compensation concerns

• ▪The American Federation of Musicians sued Universal and Warner in June 2026, alleging they licensed recordings to Suno and Udio without paying or notifying musicians.
• ▪Participating labels—Warner, BMG and Believe—and AI platforms Suno and Udio have not disclosed what artists will be paid, how many have opted in, or how much control musicians have over their work's use

Debatable claims

• ▪Suno's v6 AI model is legally tainted by its previous infringing versions
• ▪Record labels bear responsibility for undermining musicians' livelihoods by licensing music to AI
• ▪Suno's licensing deals establish a functioning market for AI music training