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Just Say No to Suno? — Open Letter Compares AI to Louvre Heist

Just Say No to Suno? — Open Letter Compares AI to Louvre Heist

Photo Credit: Aerps

Music industry figureheads have signed an open letter calling on the industry to ‘just say no to Suno.’ Key signees include representatives from the Music Artist Coalition, the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance, The Trichordist, ECR Music Group, and Artist Rights Institute. They demand the industry halt support for Suno’s AI music generation tools.

The letter likens Suno’s training methods to the recent smash-and-grab heist at the Louvre in Paris. Thieves shattered display cases and made off with artwork that still hasn’t been recovered, but is likely to have been recut and resold. The signatories draw a direct parallel to Suno’s training techniques and this high-profile burglary.

“Closer to home, but no less nefarious, is the brazen rip-off of artists enabled by irresponsible AI, whose profiteers are recutting, remixing, and reselling original works of artistry as something new. The hijacking of the world’s entire treasure-trove of music floods platforms with AI slop and dilutes the royalty pools of legitimate artists from whose music this slop is derived.”

“Meanwhile, those who are promoting this new business model are operating in broad daylight too—minus the yellow safety vests. That is AI music company Suno, whose “Make it Music” ad campaign suggests that the most personal and meaningful forms of music can now be fabricated by their unauthorized AI platform machinery trained on human artists’ work.”

“Suno has yet to demonstrate persuasively that its platform does not, in practice, serve as a scalable input into streaming-fraud schemes—raising a serious concern that Suno has, in effect, become a fraud-fodder factory on an industrial scale.” That comes after digital streaming platform (DSP) Deezer deems 85% of fully AI-generated tracks [on its service] are fraudulent.

The open letter also addresses comments made by Paul Sinclair, Suno’s Chief Music Officer on LinkedIn. Sinclair claims Suno is about empowerment and that the platform enables “billions of fans to create and play with music.” Sinclair argues that closed systems are ‘walled gardens’ that deny people access to the full joy of music.

“Ironically, Sinclair’s choice of analogy undermines his own argument. Ask yourself: just why are most gardens surrounded by fences or walls? To keep out rabbits, deer, raccoons, and wild pigs seeking a free lunch. We cultivate, nurture, and protect our gardens precisely because that makes them much more productive over the long run.”

“While Sinclair may be loath to admit it, AI is fundamentally different from past disruptive innovations in the music industry,” the letter continues. “The phonograph, cassettes, CDs, MP3s, downloads, streaming—all of these technologies were about the reproduction and distribution of creative work. By contrast, irresponsible AI like Suno appropriates and plunders such creative work while undermining the commercial ecosystem for artists.”

“Think back to the days of Napster. What brought the music industry back from the ruinous abyss of unfettered digital piracy? It was the very ‘closed systems’ that Sinclair derides as exclusionary. At least streaming platforms maintain access controls and content management systems that enable creator compensation, even if the economic outcomes for many creators remain inadequate. Should we be against Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music? What about Netflix, Disney+, and HBO too while we’re at it?”

“Artists need to understand Suno’s game. They are not putting technology in the service of artists; they are putting artists at the service of technology. Every time artists’ creations are used by the platform, those creations have just unwittingly been contributed to the creation of endless derivatives of artists’ own work, not to mention AI slop, with limited or no remuneration back to the human creators. Suno built its business model on our backs, scraping the world’s cultural output without permission, then competes against the very works exploited.”

“It’s also important to keep in mind that using Suno to generate audio output calls into question the copyrightability of whatever Suno creates. Most countries around the world including the US Copyright Office have been clear that generative AI outputs are largely ineligible for a copyright—meaning the economic value of the Suno creation lies solely with Suno and not the artist using it. The only ones gaining empowerment from Suno are Suno themselves.”

“Many in our community are embracing responsible AI as a tool for creation, and as a means for fans to explore and interact with our artistry. That’s wonderful. But it’s not the same as creating an environment where AI-generated works sourced from our music are mass distributed to dilute our royalties or, worse yet, reward those actively seeking to commit fraud. Artists need to know the difference – all AI platforms are not the same, and Suno, which is being sued for copyright infringement, is not a platform artists should trust.”