Suno Launches AI Music Models With Warner and BMG as Copyright Fight Continues
AI music startup Suno has launched a new generation of music models developed with Warner Music Group, BMG and Believe after settling copyright disputes with some music companies while continuing to fight others in federal court.
The v6 models arrived Wednesday, months after Warner settled its copyright lawsuit against Suno and entered a licensing partnership with the company. BMG followed with its own agreement in August, resolving claims over Suno's prior use of its recordings and publishing works while establishing terms for participating artists and songwriters.
Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, however, are still suing Suno in Massachusetts federal court over allegations that it copied copyrighted recordings without permission to train its earlier technology.
Their case gained another issue shortly before the v6 launch. Suno acknowledged in a September 1 court filing that audio used as training data had been obtained from YouTube using YT-DLP, an open-source downloading tool.
Universal and Sony accuse the company of circumventing YouTube's technological protections to obtain copyrighted recordings. Suno disputes that the labels can pursue the claim and continues to argue that its use of copyrighted music for AI training is protected by fair use.
The dispute leaves Suno operating under two different relationships with major music companies. Warner has ended its litigation and is working with the startup on licensed AI products, while Universal and Sony continue challenging how Suno obtained and used music to develop earlier models.
Suno's new lineup includes v6, v6-wild and v6-mini. The flagship v6 model is designed to give users more control over generated music, while v6-wild produces less predictable results. Both are available to paid subscribers. The smaller v6-mini is available to free users.
Users can also edit portions of generated songs, combine elements from different sources, and create music using text, audio, images, or video. Suno plans to retire its older models as it moves users to the v6 generation.
Chief Executive Mikey Shulman said the company believes its agreements with the music industry can create new products for artists and fans while opening additional ways for musicians to be paid.
The Warner agreement, announced in November 2025, settled the label's previous litigation against Suno. Warner said the partnership would allow artists and songwriters to opt into certain uses of their names, images, likenesses, voices and compositions in new AI-generated music.
BMG's August agreement covers its recorded music and publishing repertoire and resolved claims involving Suno's previous use of BMG works. Artists and songwriters who choose to participate are expected to receive compensation under the arrangement.
Believe and TuneCore joined Suno this month through a separate partnership that will allow participating independent artists and labels to take part in new AI music products.
Suno is also developing artist-specific features that would allow musicians to opt into experiences built around their work and receive payment when they participate. The company has not disclosed detailed financial terms for those products.
The agreements address one of the central disputes surrounding generative music: whether AI companies can use copyrighted recordings to develop their systems without first obtaining permission from the people and companies that control the music.
Suno has maintained that AI training can qualify as fair use. Record labels challenging the company argue that copying their recordings without authorization violates copyright law and allows AI services to produce music that competes with the works used to develop them.
The company also faces litigation beyond the Universal and Sony case. Musicians including Jason Isbell and David Lowery filed a proposed class action in August accusing Suno of improperly using artists' identities in its products. Suno disputes allegations that its technology violates musicians' rights.
The v6 launch does not resolve those cases. It instead puts Suno's new partnerships with parts of the music industry alongside continuing court fights over how its earlier technology was developed.
