Suno has asked a judge to dismiss Jason Isbell’s lawsuit, which alleges that the AI music company used artists’ identities to generate songs without permission. In its first major response to the case, Suno argues that there is “nothing unlawful” about using an artist’s name as shorthand for a musical style or “vibe.”
Isbell and other artists filed the proposed class action in August. The lawsuit claims Suno’s model was built to identify musicians by name and produce identity-evocative music, violating state laws that protect a person’s name, image and likeness from commercial exploitation. The artists say the case could potentially represent millions of musicians.
Suno’s lawyers contend that people routinely use artists’ names to describe the kind of music they want to create. The company argues that treating this practice as unlawful would restrict ordinary communication and violate the First Amendment. Its motion also says the lawsuit could harm the creative and cultural ecosystem.
Suno says its platform does not allow users to prompt the model with specific artist names. According to the company, when users enter a name, the system converts it into descriptive musical characteristics. For example, a prompt for Duran Duran might be translated into terms such as “new wave,” “synth-pop” and “pop rock.”
The lawsuit argues that these safeguards can be bypassed by spacing out the letters in an artist’s name, citing Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny as examples. It also claims that translating names into musical descriptions does not prevent the model from exploiting the artists’ identities.
Suno says the claims are legally flawed even if the alleged conduct occurred. It argues that using a person’s name to find or describe information, and building a tool that can respond to such references, does not violate state likeness laws. The company also argues that federal copyright law preempts the state-level claims, saying they would create protections for artistic styles that Congress did not establish.
An attorney for Isbell did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. Suno is also facing separate lawsuits from major music companies, which allege that it used copyrighted songs to train its models.
Sources: Billboard.