What music industry lawsuits? Generative AI music app Suno has launched on iOS, shortly after the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued the service (and rival Udio) for training its data on artists' work without permission.
The Suno app works similarly to its website. Users put in a text prompt describing what kind of song they want it to generate and Suno spits it out. During a quick test, we asked the app to generate "an early 2000s-style metal song about rabbits" and the app generated a nu-metal song it called "Warren of Wrath," a clever play on words.
Suno baked in a couple of extra features with the app, including the ability to use the sound of your voice as part of the AI music generation. Users can also share songs, curate their prompts into a library, and find music based on their mood.
The app uses Suno version 3.5, which was previously only available to paid subscribers. Free users can play with 50 free credits that reset daily on the app's basic plan. The $10-per-month pro plan increases that to 2,500 daily credits while a $30 option increases it to 10,000 credits. Interestingly, Suno lets you keep the commercial rights to songs you generate if you use one of the paid plans but owns the songs you generate if you make it on the free plan.
The app is only available in the US and on iOS, though an Android version is in the works. Suno is also currently available via Microsoft Copilot.
The RIAA, however, claims Suno and Udio trained their respective AIs using unlicensed music from top artists in the industry. It alleges that "Suno and Udio are attempting to hide the full of their infringement" after finding that some of the generated songs bore a striking resemblance to popular songs by Abba, The Beach Boys, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Chuck Berry.
Suno co-founder Keenan Freyberg tells Tom's Guide that it's "not trying to make music better, faster, or cheaper — whatever 'better' would even mean. We're always trying to explore entirely new ways to experience and engage with music."
TikTok has tried to avoid similar litigation by promising AI guardrails in its deal with Universal Music Group while YouTube is looking to pay studios to train its AI.