Photo Credit: DistroKid
Amid an intensifying subpoena clash with Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sony Music, DistroKid now has until November 6th to respond to a demand for documents concerning its AI-detection data.
As some will recognize from our prior coverage, that opposition deadline was previously November 4th. But with a number of motions to quash and compel playing out in UMG v. Suno, schedule-related discussions are evidently ongoing.
Enter the newly filed and approved stipulation extending DistroKid’s response cutoff until the 6th. Regarding the reason(s) behind the request, the parties opted against getting into specifics.
(The subpoena itself concerns the percentage of DistroKid recordings flagged as AI-generated, the total streams and royalties of these machine outputs, and how many of the recordings were pumped out via Suno, to name a few key areas.)
But Universal Music, Sony Music, and Create-backed DistroKid did inform the court that they “are working on a resolution,” and time will tell precisely what this means. Closer to the present, it’s worth keeping in mind UMG’s complaint accusing the distributor of flooding DSPs with AI slop.
Technically, the subpoena came down not in this recently filed lawsuit, but in the non-Warner majors’ years-old infringement complaint against Suno.
And as we’ve exclusively reported, all these document and testimony demands – involving Apple, multiple Suno investors, the Mechanical Licensing Collective, at least one individual, and others yet – tie back to the decidedly important market-harm question.
In short, have Suno’s AI outputs displaced proper music and diverted a significant amount of royalties on DSPs? Or have anti-fraud initiatives and advantageous licensing deals shielded the major label plaintiffs from material financial consequences?
As such, five years of label- and service-specific stream-volume data would presumably prove useful to Suno if provided by the MLC, which is currently fending off the subpoena.
Of course, the approaching months should reveal the exact usefulness of the information – besides that demanded by Sony Music and Universal Music.
More immediately, however, with the increasingly ugly legal battle taking center stage, it’s easy to overlook the fact that Suno has retooled its product and policies under licensing pacts with leading players in Warner Music, Believe, and BMG.
Running with the point, Suno isn’t just grappling with high-stakes copyright complaints; artist-specific offerings are in the works, and as we previously noted, the company might be plotting an expansion into music-adjacent verticals.
New job postings could provide clues here; Suno is looking to bring on a senior product marketing manager of new bets, a recommendations product manager, and, perhaps most notably given its Songkick ownership, a senior lead of physical security.
The song accompanying the latter role – Suno’s been in the habit of generating tracks tied to open positions for a while now – mentions “[a]rtists in the building, a stage about to rise.”
Moreover, the ideal candidate for a director of strategic sourcing and procurement post must possess “[e]xperience with readiness for IPO,” Suno emphasized.
