Suno, a service that allows users to create AI-generated songs, today announced new tools to mark songs created on its platform, restrict downloads, and update its community guidelines to prevent copying songs. The change comes as Suno faces numerous lawsuits from labels and artist organizations.
Co-founder and CEO Mikey Schulman shared the guiding principles in a blog post, saying the platform wants to encourage original creation while enabling more people to make music using AI tools.
One of the main points of contention was that users could upload AI-generated songs to other streaming platforms and game the system to make money. Suno said it will now use audio watermarking and fingerprinting to prevent abuse on other streaming platforms. It’s unclear whether Suno will use an existing system, such as Google’s Synth ID, or adopt a new system, which the company did not specify when contacted by TechCrunch.
The startup also signed an agreement with lyrics provider Musixmatch to use its Sentinel system for copyright detection, according to a blog post.
“These tools are designed to be durable and tamper-resistant without affecting the listening experience, and they are not intended to determine whether a song is good, meaningful, or human enough,” Schulman said in a blog post. “Ultimately, we believe artists and platforms should decide what they want to publish. Our role is to build tools that provide transparency options and facilitate collaboration across the industry.”
The company added that it plans to add new download policies that will prohibit bulk distribution on streaming platforms, but did not provide details on its records.
Suno also changed its community guidelines to explicitly prohibit “deceptive audio presented as authentic” and “the use of a real person’s voice or likeness without permission” to prevent copying.
The company raised $400 million in a Series D funding round in June, but is fighting legal battles on many fronts. The company is in litigation with Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sony Music Group in a lawsuit coordinated by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Late last month, a German court ruled in favor of government-commissioned licensing agency GEMA, saying Suno violated copyright rules.
Separately, 404 Media reported that Suno suffered a data breach in November 2025 that revealed the platform scraped YouTube, Deezer, and Genius to train its models. Data breach notification service Have I Been Pwned subsequently announced that the data breach affected 55 million users. The company is currently facing a class action lawsuit in Massachusetts alleging that it neglected security measures in order to focus on profits.
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