Two new lawsuits against Suno
A group of Elvis Presley music rightsholders and the publisher behind many of Eminem's recordings have filed new federal lawsuits against the AI music generator Suno, Variety reported. Each side makes its own allegations, adding to the legal pressure on the company.
The Presley case was brought in the Northern District of California by a group that includes Authentic Brands Group and Raleigh Music Publishing. According to the report, it accuses Suno of copyright infringement and of exploiting Presley's identity whenever users cite his name to generate new songs.
Eight Mile Style, an LLC that controls hundreds of Eminem recordings, including "Lose Yourself," "Without Me" and "The Real Slim Shady," filed a separate case. It alleges Suno infringed its copyright by letting users generate songs and lyrics that mirror the rapper's tracks. Eminem is not individually participating, and a representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to Variety.
What the complaints allege
In a 51-page filing, the Presley plaintiffs claim Suno violated Tennessee's Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act, known as the ELVIS Act. The 2024 law is aimed at preventing AI companies from cloning singers' voices. The plaintiffs say Suno allowed users to produce tracks that mirror Presley's "rich vocal timbre" without permission.
The same attorneys, Richard Busch, Mark Block, David Niemierzycki and Andrew Davis, represent both the Presley group and Eight Mile Style. They argued that Suno has "mechanically encoded itself with artists' identities, hard-work, creativity, and time, and harnessed them all for a consistent conveyor belt of cold hard cash." Both complaints include examples of generated songs that allegedly sounded like Presley or produced lyrics replicating Eminem's work.
"The next Elvis won't pick up a guitar," the attorneys wrote in the Presley case, adding that Suno's approach aims to make human creativity obsolete.
Suno's response and related cases
A Suno spokesperson said in a statement that the company exists to help people create new, original music "not to trade on anyone's name or likeness." The spokesperson said Suno does not allow prompts for specific artists' names and songs and works with third-party providers to screen uploaded audio and lyrics for potential misuse. The company said it will keep adding safeguards.
Elements of the Presley suit resemble a proposed class action led by Americana singer Jason Isbell and other musicians. Those plaintiffs alleged users could get around Suno's restrictions by using real names instead of stage names, as with the rapper Common, or by adding spaces between letters. Suno has denied the allegations and said in court there was "nothing unlawful" about asking for a song in the vein of an artist.
The Presley group and Eight Mile Style have also taken on other tech companies. Authentic Brands Group and other Presley publishers sued Anthropic last month, claiming its Claude chatbot was improperly trained on 274 Presley songs and seeking $48.6 million. Anthropic has denied the claims. Eight Mile Style sued Meta in June for roughly $110 million over 243 recordings; a federal judge in Michigan ruled that case could proceed to discovery, though Meta's lawyers called it "fanciful."
Suno's wider legal and business picture
Suno already faces suits from the independent publisher Round Hill Music and from major labels Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. Warner Music Group settled its case last year. Deals with Warner, BMG and Believe helped power Suno's label-backed "v6" model, released in September, but UMG and Sony filed another suit over it, calling it "the fruit of the same poisoned tree."
According to Variety, the litigation has not dented Suno's market value. The company raised $400 million in June at a $5.4 billion valuation.
