Suno Launches v6 Trained on Licensed Warner, BMG, Believe Music

Suno launched its v6 AI music models trained on licensed Warner Music, BMG and Believe catalogues, even as its Universal and Sony lawsuit rages on.

AI music platform Suno on September 9 launched its v6 suite of models, which Music Business Worldwide reports was developed with "industry partners, including Warner Music Group, BMG, and Believe." Suno says v6 was trained entirely from scratch on licensed partner data, and its previous models were retired the same day, according to Chief Product Officer Jack Brody. The suite includes the flagship v6 for paying subscribers, a more exploratory v6-wild, and a free v6-mini. CEO Mikey Shulman framed the launch as "a blueprint for how AI and the music industry can strengthen one another."

The launch is striking because Suno is simultaneously negotiating with part of the industry and fighting another part in court. Complete Music Update notes Suno is operating on two fronts: announcing licensing deals with partners like Believe one week, while last week telling a US court that Universal Music and Sony Music's copyright claims remain, in its lawyers' view, without merit. Gizmodo calls v6 a potential "blueprint for solving AI song generators' copyright problem," a notable shift for a company whose reputation was dented by reports it trained on scraped internet audio and by its admission it used YouTube audio data.

Music Business Worldwide reports Brody confirmed v6's training data "doesn't include data from Universal or Sony," and that Warner decided which licensed music to hand over for training. According to Brody, a portion of Suno's revenue will be shared with partners from launch day, with rightsholders responsible for distributing that money to artists — a structure Gizmodo says Suno will pay labels and publishers for training copyrights under. Complete Music Update adds that Suno is promising "opt-in experiences built around individual artists, where artists can choose to participate and get paid," alongside training protections and transparency tools highlighted in Believe's deal announcement.

The stakes remain high because Universal and Sony's Boston lawsuit continues. Complete Music Update reports Suno admitted it "obtained audio data from YouTube for use as training data" but argues that copying was "quintessential fair use." The labels amended their suit to allege Suno violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by circumventing YouTube's technical protections, seeking $2,500 per circumvention, an argument Suno's team disputes on standing grounds. Music Business Worldwide notes fact discovery closes September 30, and that Suno faces parallel legal pressure from GEMA, Koda, SOCAN, Round Hill Music and a proposed class action from Jason Isbell and other artists.

Suno says the launch is the first of two phases. Music Business Worldwide reports Shulman promised "a new kind of product": opt-in experiences built around individual artists, where artists choose to participate and get paid, and fans get new ways to connect with the artists they love. Complete Music Update suggests this resembles the walled-garden remix model Universal has favored with Suno rival Udio, and speculates it is Suno's bid to convert the remaining lawsuits into licensing deals. Brody told MBW that more rightsholder deals are "absolutely our goal," so whether Universal and Sony eventually shift from the lawsuit camp to the partner camp remains the open question.