Weekly wrap-up
This Week in AI Music: Right From the Chat
This week AI music kept moving into places you already are: your chatbot, your streaming app, your video editor. And the court fight over whether that replaces real music got a new witness. Five stories, plus what we shipped.
Published on Song Tested this week
Audius guide (Oct 27). Audius is free to upload to and free to stream, and its Terms of Use don't mention AI at all. What they do say, at length, is that what you upload has to be yours. We also found that its old AI-attribution setting is gone from the app: Audius removed it from its web and mobile code on Oct 27, 2025. Read our Audius guide.
Suno launches an MCP connector for ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini
On Oct 28, Suno announced Suno MCP in beta. It connects Suno to AI assistants like Claude, ChatGPT and Claude Code, so you can work out lyrics and style in the chat and have Suno make the song there. You can also start from an uploaded voice memo or loop, or make covers, extensions and mashups of songs in your library. Songs land in your Suno library and use your normal credits, it works on all Suno plans, and access is through an early-access sign-up (Suno release notes). Music Business Worldwide also spotted a sign-in portal for Suno's developer API, which Suno says is still in beta and will launch with a select set of partners first (Music Business Worldwide). Music Ally noted that rightsholders may be wary of a Suno connector for Claude, since both companies are being sued (Music Ally).
Spotify's AI remix tool: Q1 2027 and $4 to $5 a month (report)
On Oct 30, the Financial Times reported that Spotify plans to launch its AI covers and remixes tool in the first quarter of 2027, possibly around the Grammys in February, and is weighing a price of $4 to $5 a month on top of a subscription. Its sources said neither the timing nor the price is final, and Spotify declined to comment. Royalties from fan remixes would go to the artists behind the originals, and only artists who opt in would be included. Spotify has deals for the tool with Universal, Merlin, Kobalt and Believe, and is still negotiating with Sony and Warner, per the FT (Music Business Worldwide). Last week Spotify said only that it would be a paid Premium add-on.
Labels cleared to question a Suno investor over "shifted my listening to Suno"
On Oct 26, a federal magistrate judge in Massachusetts let Universal and Sony subpoena and depose C.C. Gong, a former principal at Suno investor Menlo Ventures, within 30 days. The labels want to ask about a since-deleted post in which she wrote, "I've personally shifted most of my listening to Suno. I was so tired of Spotify giving me the same overplayed recommendations." They argue it goes to the fourth fair use factor, Suno's effect on the market for their recordings. Suno didn't oppose the motion but said the discovery deadlines should bind everyone equally (Music Business Worldwide).
ElevenLabs ships SFX v3
On Oct 29, ElevenLabs released SFX v3, its newest sound effects model, in ElevenCreative and through its API. It says the model handles prompts describing several sounds more reliably, "generates music and vocals more convincingly," and produces cleaner audio than SFX v2 in its benchmark testing (ElevenLabs). It's a sound effects model, not a song generator, but it now sits inside ElevenLabs' Music Editor.
Sonilo and Musical AI team up on attribution
On Oct 27, Sonilo, which makes music and sound from video and text using models built on licensed material, announced a partnership with attribution company Musical AI. Musical AI's tech will analyze Sonilo's outputs and measure how licensed recordings and compositions contributed to each one, so rights holders can be credited and paid (PR Newswire). That's the companies' own announcement; there are no numbers yet on payouts.
Coming this week
Tuesday, Nov 3: a short history of AI music, from a computer-composed string quartet at the University of Illinois in the 1950s to Suno, Udio, the lawsuits and the licensing deals, with sources for every step.
Opinions are Nathan's.