Lawsuit tracker
Labels v. Suno
UMG Recordings, Inc. et al. v. Suno, Inc., No. 1:24-cv-11611 (D. Mass.)
| Plaintiffs | Recorded-music companies of Universal Music Group and Sony Music (RIAA-coordinated); Warner Music Group entities were plaintiffs until their late-2025 settlement |
|---|---|
| Defendants | Suno, Inc. |
| Court | U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts (Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV) |
| Filed | 2024-06-24 |
| Status | Active |
| Content type | sound recordings |
| Last updated | 2026-07-21 |
The claims
Direct copyright infringement of sound recordings copied to train Suno’s text-to-music model; statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work sought.
What has happened
The major labels sued Suno in June 2024, alleging it copied decades of copyrighted recordings at scale to train its text-to-music generator. Suno’s answer did not deny mass copying: it said its training data included essentially all reasonable-quality music files on the open internet, and argued fair use. Discovery sharpened the numbers. Using audio-fingerprinting analysis of Suno’s training data, the labels told the court the set contained millions of copyrighted recordings, and in May 2026 they moved to expand the case from roughly 560 identified works to 61,026; public reporting does not show a ruling on that motion yet. Warner exited in November 2025 through a settlement and licensing partnership. UMG and Sony litigate on. The summary-judgment fight expected in July 2026 did not happen — reporting on the court’s June 30, 2026 scheduling order places dispositive motions in April 2027.
Key developments
- 2024-06-24 — RIAA-coordinated labels file suit in Boston, the same day as the companion case against Udio in New York.
- 2024-08 — Suno’s answer admits its training data includes essentially all reasonable-quality music files on the open internet and asserts fair use.
- 2025-11-25 — Warner Music Group announces a settlement and licensing partnership with Suno; terms undisclosed, with reporting noting Suno’s acquisition of Songkick from WMG as part of the deal.
- 2026-01 — Court enters dismissal of the Warner plaintiffs following their December 2025 stipulation of voluntary dismissal.
- 2026-05-21 — UMG and Sony move to expand the complaint from 560 works to 61,026 specifically identified recordings, citing audio-fingerprint matches in Suno’s training data.
- 2026-06-30 — Per docket-tracker reporting, a scheduling order resets dispositive-motion briefing to April 2027, taking the anticipated July 2026 fair-use hearing off the calendar.
Why it matters for training data
This is the lead US test of whether training a music model on scraped commercial recordings is fair use, and it shows how discovery actually works: audio fingerprinting matched training data to specific recordings, so neither supplier nor buyer can assume an opaque dataset stays opaque. The Warner exit shows the other path — litigation converting into a paid license. For anyone holding or sourcing audio training data, the open questions are per-work statutory exposure at 61,000-work scale and whether provenance records exist before a subpoena forces the issue. Suno kept raising capital during the case — a reported $400 million round in June 2026 — which tells suppliers that unresolved copyright exposure is being priced, not avoided.
Sources
- CourtListener docket, UMG Recordings v. Suno (D. Mass.)
- Music Business Worldwide on the 61,026-recording motion
- Tech Times, July 10, 2026 status report
- LegalClarity case explainer (filing to Warner settlement)
- Chartlex music AI lawsuits tracker (2026)
Deeper analysis
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