Over the last month and a half, Suno and Udio — two top AI music creation companies — have had a change of heart. Both services create
Warner Music Group and AI music creation platform Suno last week announced a “first-of-its-kind” licensing deal that promises to “open new frontiers in music creation” while “compensating and protecting artists, songwriters, and the wider creative community.” It’s a significant development in the contentious relationship between the music industry and AI companies, but it leaves key questions about the future of AI music unanswered.
the music industry and AI companies, but it leaves key questions about the future of AI music unanswered.
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As part of the deal, Warner withdrew from a lawsuit it had filed alongside Universal Music Group and Sony Music against Suno, alleging mass copyright infringement by using copyrighted works to train its AI without permission or compensation. Warner and Universal recently settled similar claims against rival platform Udio, while Universal’s suit against Suno and Sony’s suits against both companies remain active.
Under the agreement, Warner artists can opt in to let Suno users create songs using their voices, names, likenesses, and compositions. According to Suno CEO Mikey Shulman, “You’ll be able to build around participating artists’ sounds and ensure they get compensated.” Users will have to pay to download their AI-created tracks, with fees presumably flowing back to participating artists.
This opt-in structure is one of the deal’s most significant features. For the first time, artists are being given control over whether their music can be used to train AI models—a choice that didn’t exist when companies were initially scraping the internet for training data. It also promises compensation, addressing a central complaint from the creative community.
But crucial details remain unclear. What rights will the licenses actually grant? Who will own the music that Suno users create? How exactly will artists be compensated, and how substantial will those payments be? What about artists outside this deal? Will independent artists have access to similar arrangements?
Warner’s pivot from litigation to licensing suggests a recognition that if AI music generation is inevitable, the industry may be better served by shaping its development rather than resisting it. While legislators struggle to understand AI’s implications for creative industries, this deal shows major players are beginning to write the rules themselves.
The music industry has weathered technological disruptions before, from Napster to streaming. Each time, new models eventually emerged that provided compensation to creators, even if the terms weren’t always favorable. AI music generation may follow a similar path, with early deals like this one setting precedents that shape the landscape for years to come.
For now, Warner’s deal with Suno represents a tentative truce in the AI music wars. It acknowledges that artists deserve compensation and control, which is progress. It creates a legal pathway for AI music creation that doesn’t rely on unauthorized use of copyrighted works.
But it also leaves artists facing an uncomfortable choice: help build the technology that might replace them, or sit on the sidelines while others shape the future of music creation.