Suno Tops 2M Subs and $300M in Annual Revenue, CEO Says

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Revenue, subscribers, and high-stakes lawsuits alike are piling up for Suno, which is said to be generating north of $300 million annually from over two million paid users.

Suno co-founder and CEO Mikey Shulman just recently took to LinkedIn to disclose the figures. At the top level, it probably doesn’t need saying that both are significant – especially because the platform only set sail in late 2023.

$300 million or so in annual recurring revenue presumably means Suno is the biggest (or nearly the biggest) AI music generator today. And on the subscriber side, unlike its Udio rival, Suno has seemingly avoided a material userbase contraction since testing the major label licensing waters with Warner Music.

As many know, Udio’s lawsuit-settling agreements with Warner Music and Universal Music ushered in sweeping changes – to the dismay of existing users. Sony Music is still suing Udio, and of the majors, only Warner Music has partnered with Suno.

WMG tie-up and ongoing growth aside, it’d therefore be inaccurate to say that Suno is without operational challenges – also including distinct litigation from independent artists (two separate class actions) as well as complaints from Germany’s GEMA and Denmark’s Koda.

On the AI company’s end, the strategy appears clear enough: Fight the suits (centering on allegedly unauthorized training, alleged piracy, and more) tooth and nail, continue adding industry execs (most recently former Merlin CEO Jeremy Sirota as chief commercial officer), and simultaneously explore possible resolutions.

All in all, this makes for an uncertain picture with plenty of moving parts – though we can safely predict that it’ll be a while yet, assuming settlements don’t materialize, before the cases head to trial.

Even the oldest of the complaints, levied by the majors (now less WMG, as mentioned), remains tangled in the discovery weeds. How tangled, you might ask? A newly proposed joint schedule would carry UMG v. Suno well into August at a minimum.

As for the complaint levied by artist Tony Justice and others, the court has scheduled an oral argument on Suno’s dismissal motion for March 20th. And in different artists’ subsequently submitted copyright complaint, Suno is looking to halt discovery while its dismissal (or transfer) motion plays out.

In support of the request, the Cambridge-based company said that the suit’s claims “largely replicate [the claims in] two earlier-filed actions” – meaning from the majors and then Justice. Running with the position, “a stay will materially reduce the burdens of litigation on both the parties” and help to avoid “potentially unnecessary and costly discovery,” Suno maintained.

A closing note on the cases (and those against Udio): Like we previously reported, developments including but not limited to Anthropic’s massive piracy settlement have shifted much of the focus to how AI giants allegedly obtained protected works.

This refers in part to the alleged stream-ripping of audio from videos on YouTube, allegedly in violation of the DMCA. Multiple music-sector plaintiffs are now moving to invoke a little-discussed ripping decision in their battles with Suno and Udio.

In Cordova v. Huneault, a magistrate judge recently concluded that allegations of bypassing YouTube’s rolling cipher anti-piracy measure to rip audio (here, for “reaction” videos) are sufficient to allege DMCA anti-circumvention violations, TorrentFreak summed up.