\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\tJason Isbell and several other musicians have filed a lawsuit against Suno, accusing the AI music giant of training its models on the identities of popular artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWhile Suno and other AI companies have faced (and in some<\/a> cases settled<\/a>) litigation over their alleged use of copyrighted music<\/a> to train their models, this lawsuit centers on alleged violations of right-of-publicity laws. Filed in Massachusetts federal court and obtained by Rolling Stone<\/em>, the lawsuit claims that Suno \u201cencoded\u201d the identities of countless artists into its AI model \u201cwithout consent, and now exploits those identities\u201d for its own \u201cconsiderable commercial benefit.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tTo back up its claims, the lawsuit is filled with alleged examples of how typing an artist\u2019s name into Suno can generate songs, descriptions, and graphics that evoke the real artist\u2019s identity. The suit also suggests that supposed guardrails meant to deter this kind of prompting are easy to skirt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cSuno knows the commercial value of a machine that can conjure up a beloved musician\u2019s identity simply by invoking their name,\u201d the lawsuit reads, adding: \u201cMany musicians sell their rights to specific recordings. However, the identity right belongs to the performer regardless of who owns any copyright in an underlying recording unless the identity right is separately licensed, typically for merchandise under the artist\u2019s control. This lawsuit seeks to recover the value of those misappropriated identities and to stop their ongoing commercial exploitation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIn a statement, Suno said, “We believe these claims are without merit and we intend to defend against them. Suno exists to help people create new, original music, not to trade on anyone’s name. We stand by the many protections we have put into place across the platform, including blocking prompts for specific artists’ names or copyrighted songs. We also work with third party technology providers to screen uploaded audio files and lyrics for potential unauthorized use of artists’ work.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe suit’s claims rest on the allegation that Suno took the identifying attributes of particular musicians and turned them into \u201ctokens,\u201d which could then be used to generate sound and descriptions reminiscent of the artist\u2019s actual work. For instance, prompting Suno with “Jason Isbell” allegedly “produced an Americana song called \u2018Paper Bell,\u2019 imitating Isbell\u2019s characteristic clear male vocals and country twang. Suno described it as \u2018contemporary Americana singer-songwriter with fingerpicked acoustic guitar\u2019 and provided an image of a paper bell with a church and trees in the background, evoking a country scene.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t(As of publication, \u201cPaper Bell,\u201d<\/a> as well as many of the other AI songs generated for the lawsuit, are still available on Suno.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe lawsuit also includes alleged examples describing what happened when other notable artists were used as prompts. \u201cBuddy Guy\u201d led to the creation of a song called \u201cStone Blues in My Shoes,\u201d which was paired with a description that read in part, \u201cvintage electric Chicago blues.” A “Carly Simon\u201d prompt generated a song described as \u201csoft 70s confessional pop.” And entering \u201cLess Than Jake\u201d created a song called \u201cParking Lot Anthem\u201d that was described as \u201cska-punk with fast offbeat guitar chops, jumping baseline, and punchy two-step drums.\u201d Suno allegedly even generated album art \u201cinvoking the surreal, comic book art\u201d of actual Less Than Jake album covers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tLast month, Suno CEO Mikey Shulman appeared to address this issue in a blog<\/a> post, writing: \u201cUnlike many AI music platforms, we\u2019ve never allowed prompts for specific artists or copyrighted songs. Instead, when a prompt references a specific artist, we remove the artist\u2019s name and redirect the request toward descriptive musical characteristics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tBut the suit claims that these filters are easy to sidestep. One way is allegedly using an artist\u2019s real name instead of their stage name. Prompting Suno with Common\u2019s real name \u2014 Lonnie Rashid Lynn \u2014 produced tracks that allegedly captured the Chicago rapper\u2019s \u201cmore poetic, reflective, socially conscious hip-hop, relying on samples of jazz and soul music.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAnd, the suit claims, users can successfully prompt Suno with the names of some of the biggest artists in the world \u2014 including Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, and Bruno Mars \u2014 if they just add a space between every letter of the artist\u2019s name. For instance, entering \u201cm i c h a e l j a c k s o n\u201d purportedly led to the creation of two songs called \u201cGlovebox Moonwalk.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cBoth songs,\u201d the suit reads, \u201care described as \u20181980s pop-funk dance track[s],\u2019 and include a photo of a white glove. Additionally, both the moonwalk and the glove feature in the lyrics. With his name alone, the Michael Jackson experience relies on two of his most iconic associated attributes: the moonwalk and the single white glove.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAlong with Isbell, the lead plaintiffs in the case are David Lowery, who makes music as Camper Van Beethoven; singer-songwriter Guy Forsyth; and prominent jazz saxophonist Ed Calle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThis story was updated at 6:09 p.m. ET with a statement from Suno.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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