Warner Music Group partners with Suno to launch AI music models trained on licensed catalog

TECHNOLOGY

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Warner Music Group partners with Suno to launch AI music models trained on licensed catalog

The deal settles a bitter copyright lawsuit and creates a new revenue-sharing structure for artists whose work trains generative AI

by
Editorial Team

Sep. 20, 2026

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Warner Music Group and AI music platform Suno have gone from courtroom adversaries to business partners. The two companies struck a licensing deal that lets Suno train its latest generation of AI models on WMG’s catalog, while routing a share of revenue back to the artists and songwriters whose work feeds the machine.

The partnership, first announced in November 2025, has now culminated in a tangible product: Suno’s v6 suite of AI models, launched on September 9, 2026. The suite includes v6, v6-wild, and a free tier called v6-mini, all built on licensed content from WMG alongside deals with BMG and Believe.

From lawsuit to licensing deal

Rewind to 2024, and the relationship between Suno and the major labels looked very different. WMG, alongside Universal Music Group and Sony Music, had filed a copyright lawsuit against Suno, alleging the platform had trained its models on copyrighted music without permission.

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Instead, WMG broke ranks. It settled separately and signed a licensing agreement that created an opt-in system for artists. Under this structure, artists can choose whether their work and likenesses are used in AI-generated features, including AI remixes. WMG CEO Bob Kyncl framed the deal as a win for rightsholders, describing it as the first time artists could earn revenue from AI-generated music on top of their traditional streaming income.

UMG and Sony, notably, have not settled. Their lawsuits against Suno remain active.

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Suno’s scale and valuation

The platform now claims over 2 million paying subscribers and roughly 100 million users who have created content on the platform. Those numbers helped push the company’s valuation to $5.4 billion following the v6 launch.

With the v6 launch, Suno retired its previous models entirely. The company also formalized a revenue-sharing structure that distributes earnings to participating labels and artists.

Artist reactions are split

The opt-in framework is designed to give artists control. In theory, no one’s voice or catalog gets fed into the AI without their consent. Some artists and their representatives have welcomed this, viewing it as a reasonable compromise that lets them participate in a new revenue stream while maintaining guardrails around their creative identity.

Others are less enthusiastic. The concern is straightforward: even with opt-in controls, widespread participation in AI music creation could dilute the value of original work.

The fact that UMG and Sony are still litigating means Suno’s v6 models are training on a significant but incomplete slice of the global music library.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.