Weekly wrap-up
This Week in AI Music: Elvis Goes to Court
This week the lawsuits got louder, and one AI music tool got a front door onto a platform real artists already use. Four stories, plus what we shipped. There's no wrap-up song this week.
Published on Song Tested this week
A short history of AI music (Nov 3). From a computer-composed string quartet at the University of Illinois to Suno, Udio, the lawsuits and the licensing deals, with sources for every step. Read the history.
Price history tracker (Nov 3). Our price tracker now keeps a dated change log and a weekly history for each tool. Our Nov 2 check of Suno, ElevenLabs, Udio and Stable Audio found no list price changes. Mureka's page couldn't be read that day, so it's marked unverified. See the change log.
Elvis rightsholders and Eminem's publisher sue Suno
Variety reported on Nov 7 that a group of Elvis Presley rightsholders, including Authentic Brands Group and Raleigh Music Publishing, filed a federal suit against Suno in the Northern District of California. It alleges copyright infringement and a violation of Tennessee's ELVIS Act, the 2024 law on voice cloning. Separately, Eight Mile Style, which controls hundreds of Eminem recordings, sued Suno for copyright infringement; Eminem himself isn't a party. Both complaints include examples of generated songs that allegedly sound like Presley or reproduce Eminem's lyrics. Suno told Variety that it prohibits unauthorized use of an artist's work, doesn't allow prompts for specific artist names and songs, and screens uploaded audio and lyrics with third-party providers. These are allegations; Suno has denied similar claims in an earlier identity suit (Variety).
ElevenLabs music can now publish straight to SoundCloud
On Nov 5, ElevenLabs said users of its ElevenMusic platform can publish AI-generated tracks directly on SoundCloud. It's also giving SoundCloud Artist Pro users three months of ElevenMusic Pro. TechCrunch's report says ElevenLabs counts more than 25 million tracks created with its models (TechCrunch).
The MLC pushes back on Udio's streaming-data subpoena
In the label lawsuits, Udio and Suno have subpoenaed The Mechanical Licensing Collective for monthly performance data on labels in its database going back to 2021. On Nov 3, Digital Music News reported that the MLC formally opposed the request, saying compliance would take roughly two to three weeks of staff time at $150 to $315 an hour per employee (Digital Music News).
Suno adds a Daily Song Challenge
On Nov 6, Suno added a Daily Song Challenge to its iOS and Android apps: a new prompt each day, such as turning a photo of your dog into a song. Songs you make are saved to a Calendar in your Library. Suno says it's available on all plans (Suno release notes).
Coming this week
Tuesday, Nov 10: our Udio review, using Udio's free tier. We'll also recheck the price tracker on Monday, Nov 9.
Opinions are Nathan's.