The labels that sued AI music companies in 2024 are now licensing their catalogs to them. The pitch to artists is choice and a cut. The catch, according to musicians, songwriters and their union, is that nobody has said what the cut is, and an artist's contract may decide the choice for them.
Where the deals stand
Earlier in September, Suno released its first models built with licensed music from Warner Music Group, BMG and Believe, the Los Angeles Times reports. Rival Udio has deals with Universal and Warner, and Spotify has struck deals with Universal and Merlin for a planned AI product. Udio runs a closed system where songs made on the platform cannot be downloaded or distributed elsewhere. Suno lets users download songs with caps and watermarks, and says tracks made with its new models can be distributed through Believe and TuneCore.
Not everyone settled. The Times reports that Sony and Universal are still suing Suno, and filed a new lawsuit alleging Suno's latest model still infringes their works.
Who actually decides
Warner's deal with Suno lets artists opt in to having their names, likenesses, voices and compositions used in AI-generated music. But Suno's chief product officer Jack Brody told the Times that labels "ultimately have their contracts in place that will have some say in what an artist can and can't do." It is also not always clear whether opting out keeps an artist's recordings out of training, or only out of fan-facing features.
None of the companies have disclosed what artists will be paid or how many have opted in. Drew Silverstein of BandLab Technologies put it plainly to the Times: "A label making a deal and an individual artist having a choice are not necessarily the same thing."
The pushback
The American Federation of Musicians sued Universal and Warner in June, alleging the labels licensed recordings its members played on without paying them. The labels have moved to dismiss. Separately, a proposed class action led by Jason Isbell alleges Suno lets users generate songs that evoke specific artists' identities without consent. Suno disputes those claims.
Why it matters here
Dark-pop lives on a voice and a mood. For artists in this scene, many of them independent or newly signed, the question is not abstract: if a fan types a prompt asking for something that sounds like them, who agreed to that, and who gets paid? Right now the honest answer is that the terms are not public.