Suno has raised more than $400m while copyright lawsuits still hang over its AI music machine like a bad remix.
According to Reuters, the AI music startup has pulled in $400m in a Series D round, pushing its valuation to $5.4bn. That is a chunky number for a company generating songs with AI while arguing with the music industry about where the training data came from.
The round shows investors are not treating the lawsuits as enough of a brake on Suno’s growth. Major labels and rights holders have accused the company of using protected tracks to train its models.
Suno has leaned on a fair use defence. Universal Music Group, Sony and GEMA are pursuing legal action against the startup.
Warner Music Group has already reached a settlement and licensing deal with Suno, which gives the company at least one less legal bonfire.
The new round was led by Bond Capital, with IVP, Forerunner, Union Square Ventures, Alkeon and Quiet joining in. Existing investors took part as well, while Suno claimed artists, producers and music industry figures joined the round.
Suno still needs more than venture capital if it wants to look like a partner rather than a catalogue Hoover. But the fight is not just about them.
Generative music sits on a wobbly pile of datasets, licences, outputs and unresolved questions about who gets paid. If courts narrow the use of protected catalogues, startups may need pricier licences or authorised training libraries.
If fair use holds broadly, the AI music market could accelerate before the record label legal eagles have finished sharpening their pencils. A $5.4bn valuation suggests the product has convinced a serious chunk of the market, despite the legal noise.
Already, it is claimed that users were generating millions of tracks a day. That makes Suno look less like a toy and more like creative infrastructure with an add-on copyright lawsuit. This state of affairs will be familiar to those who remember Napster.
