AI music startup Suno unveils v6 model family with licensed data

AI music model maker Suno on Wednesday unveiled a new model family called Suno v6, which it says was developed using licensed data from music labels and distributors such as Warner Music Group, BMG and Believe.

Suno has faced multiple lawsuits from record labels, which accused the startup of using copyrighted data to train its AI models, which let you generate music with prompts. Suno settled with Warner Music Group last year, and struck a deal with BMG last month.

The company said Suno v6 is not trained using the data it used to train previous versions of its music-generating model.

The startup is releasing three versions of the model: The base Suno v6 model is available to paying users, and is said to be reliable and steerable for controlled outputs; Suno v6 wild is an experimental model, also available to paying users, that’s meant to be used for ideation and getting unexpected results. Lastly, Suno v6 mini is a faster version available to all users. The company plans to retire its older models.

Suno says the new model lineup offers greater flexibility in how you use them. Suno v6 lets you edit a part of a song using a prompt or a word in the lyrics, and even lets you use text, images or video as references to create tracks. You can separate an instrument from a sample and create a new beat with it.

The startup also said it plans to add new features such as letting users remix songs — provided the respective artists opt-in to a new program it is setting up with music labels that lets Suno use their songs for AI-generated features.

Jack Brody, Suno’s chief product officer, said through derivative work, there is more opportunity for revenue generation for all stakeholders.

“I think the music ecosystem and our partners are always looking for ways to create more revenue opportunities for their rights holders and artists. So a big part of this release is creating additional revenue streams there,” Brody told TechCrunch in an interview.

Last month, Suno said it plans to add a watermark to songs generated using its platform. It also recently also introduced new download limits based on the account’s tier.

“We can help manage some of the broader ecosystem challenges like streaming fraud and kind of mass exportation and uploading to distributors that are low intent. At the end of the day, we think it is up to the distributors and the platforms to govern what content goes on there,” he said.

Suno is still facing lawsuits from labels like Sony and Universal Music Group, artists like Jason Isbell, and users alleging it ignored security while chasing profits. The model announcement comes a day after the company admitted to training its models using YouTube videos.

Despite these controversies, Suno has raised over $819 million in funding to date, according to PitchBook data.