Sony Music and Universal Music Group have filed another lawsuit against AI music startup Suno, this time targeting its v6 model. The labels, which have not signed licensing agreements with Suno, argue that v6 was trained on outputs from earlier Suno models, and those earlier models were trained on unlicensed recordings scraped from YouTube and other sources. They call this process "model laundering."
In the complaint, Sony and UMG say training a new model on outputs of an infringing model does not eliminate infringement; it launders it. They also allege Suno used distillation, training v6 to replicate results from "teacher" models built on infringing data. The labels argue that even a model not directly trained on their recordings is still informed by unauthorized copies retained by Suno.
Suno's Jack Brody said at v6's launch that it was "trained from the ground up, with a new set of data," including user data, but offered no details. Suno later confirmed to Engadget that the data includes user creations, but declined to elaborate. The lawsuit hinges on whether Suno can show v6 truly started from scratch; the labels say it is "the fruit of the same poisoned tree."