Grammy-winning artist Jason Isbell joined a federal lawsuit against music AI platform Suno filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts. The complaint was brought by Isbell, David Lowery of Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, blues musician Guy Forsyth, and saxophonist Eduardo Calle. The plaintiffs contend that Suno incorporated musicians’ identities into its generative models without authorization, allowing users to create songs mimicking specific artists.
According to the legal filing, Suno’s system enables users to generate tracks based on particular musicians by entering artist names or using workarounds such as referencing an artist’s “tone and phrasing,” using real names instead of stage names, or spacing out letters in artists’ names. The plaintiffs claim the company retained what they describe as “voiceprints” of performers in its system metadata, despite Suno’s assertion that it does not store artist names in this way. The lawsuit seeks to prevent Suno from capitalizing on musicians’ identities and to recover damages for their alleged misappropriation.
The case distinguishes itself from previous litigation against Suno by focusing on identity rights rather than copyright issues. While several copyright-related lawsuits have resulted in settlements granting Suno access to certain music catalogs, the plaintiffs argue that identity rights remain separate property of performers that cannot be transferred through copyright agreements unless explicitly licensed. The complaint states that musicians typically retain identity rights regardless of copyright ownership or whether they consent to be used in AI training.
Suno declined to comment on the filing. Company CEO Mikey Shulman previously stated in a blog post that the platform does not retain artist names in its metadata and does not allow users to prompt for specific artists or songs. Other ongoing litigation against Suno includes cases brought by Round Hill Music, Universal Music Group, and Sony Music Entertainment. Warner Music Group settled its case against Suno previously and has since entered into a partnership with the company to develop a new model.
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