Photo Credit: Suno
As it fends off multiple high-stakes copyright suits – and eyes additional licensing pacts – Suno has unveiled plans to adopt “new audio watermarking” tech and implement “a new downloads policy designed to limit the ability to mass distribute songs on streaming platforms.”
The gen AI upstart reached out with word of the seemingly sweeping changes, which CEO Mikey Shulman described in a blog post entitled “How We’re Building the Future of Music Responsibly.”
In keeping with that title, much of the document explores Suno’s “principles” – stated concisely, AI can’t replace human creativity but can “open new ways for artists to create,” per the platform, which is unsurprisingly drawing attention to its Spark incubator program.
This victory lap aside, the update isn’t light on noteworthy takeaways. First, though the avalanche of AI slop on DSPs has long been in motion, it’s significant that the heretofore unconcerned Suno is now acknowledging “an important responsibility to make it harder to abuse AI tools in ways that undermine a healthy music ecosystem.”
“We will soon introduce a new downloads policy designed to limit the ability to mass distribute songs on streaming platforms, while preserving the professional, creative, and personal ways people use Suno,” the company spelled out.
Next, with the across-the-board push for AI audio labels front of mind, Suno is “starting to roll out new transparency tools that align with emerging industry standards so songs generated on Suno can be identified if they are shared on other platforms.”
Interestingly, Suno sent along two versions of the blog post, the second containing a few modifications; one of these changes swapped “today, we’re rolling out” with the above text. Of course, that presumably means said transparency tools will arrive sooner rather than later.
Additionally, “the coming weeks” are expected to bring the adoption of “new audio watermarking and fingerprinting technology” enabling Suno to “partner more closely with distribution platforms on combatting fraud and misuse.”
“Ultimately, we believe it should be up to artists and platforms to decide what they want to disclose,” a related line reads. “Our role is to build tools that give them transparency options and make it easier to collaborate across the industry.”
Finally, Suno is emphasizing its agreements with Audible Magic and Musixmatch, which detailed the pact in a release of its own. According to Musixmatch, Suno is “the first customer to adopt Sentinel, a real-time copyright detection service” tailored for UGC and generative outputs.
Curiously, Suno initially mentioned ACRCloud as a partner “to screen uploaded audio files and lyrics for potential unauthorized use of artists’ work,” but then removed this mention of the “automatic content recognition company” in the updated blog post.
In any event, “clearer community guidelines,” complete with updates “to make our rules easier to understand and to be more explicit about activities that have no place on Suno,” are on the books as well.
The guidelines recalibration appears extensive. Just in passing, the older text lacked even a reference to uploading protected materials and using another’s voice without permission. Now, “uploading copyrighted material, reproducing existing songs, or using a real person’s voice or likeness without permission” is expressly described as against the rules in a category that also addresses scams, “credible threats of violence,” hate speech, and a whole lot else.
Account suspensions and straight bans are on the table for rule violations, according to the fine print, which proclaims that “[r]espect for artists and the integrity of their work is foundational to” Suno.
Besides being significant on their own, the changes raise a number of questions, including about the subscriber-base response (remember the reaction to Udio’s overhaul?) and the possibility of Suno’s inking fresh licensing deals.
As things stand, however, Warner Music is the only major that’s licensed Suno. Despite this point and the mentioned suits, CEO Robert Kyncl yesterday underscored that “the plan remains exactly as it was, which is for them to transition to a licensed model later this year.”
