The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) has initiated legal action against Suno, accusing the AI music generator of breaching the performing rights of music in SOCAN’s catalog. SOCAN, the largest membership-based music rights organization in Canada comprising over 200,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers, presented evidence in the lawsuit highlighting 150 publicly available outputs from Suno that allegedly imitate songs by SOCAN members.
Andrea Kokonis, SOCAN’s chief legal officer and general counsel, emphasized the importance of ensuring that members receive fair compensation for their work and sending a strong message to AI platforms regarding unauthorized music usage. Suno allows users to create AI vocals, instrumentation, and production for music production purposes. SOCAN alleges that Suno’s AI models were trained using a wide range of online music files without proper permissions, resulting in outputs resembling songs from SOCAN’s repertoire being generated and played without authorization or compensation.
Notable songs by SOCAN members mentioned in the lawsuit include tracks like “Bobcaygeon” by The Tragically Hip, “Sk8er Boi” by Avril Lavigne, “Life Is a Highway” by Tom Cochrane, “Femme Like U” by K-Maro, and “A New Day Has Come” by Céline Dion. Despite attempts to reach Suno for comment, the platform did not respond to email inquiries. SOCAN’s CEO, Jennifer Brown, stressed the organization’s commitment to protecting the rights of music creators and publishers, asserting that innovation should not undermine human creativity and that the future of music should be safeguarded for those who produce it.
In a parallel development, major music labels such as Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music have also lodged copyright infringement lawsuits against Suno. Furthermore, in a separate class action lawsuit filed in 2024, singer-songwriter Jason Isbell and a group of musicians accused Suno of creating music based on their identities without consent. Kokonis echoed Brown’s sentiments, underlining the importance of recognizing music as a human endeavor and ensuring that creators receive due compensation for their work to protect their livelihoods.