Suno Adds Audio Watermarks to AI Music Amid Lawsuits, Fraud

AI music generation platform Suno announced a suite of content moderation measures on Thursday as the company navigates mounting legal challenges and concerns over fraudulent use of its technology.

CEO Mikey Shulman disclosed in a blog post that Suno will deploy audio watermarking and fingerprinting technology designed to help streaming platforms identify and trace songs created with its tools. The company is also implementing download restrictions intended to prevent mass distribution of AI-generated tracks on streaming services.

According to Gizmodo, which first reported the changes, the moves appear primarily aimed at combating schemes where users generate hundreds or thousands of AI songs, upload them to streaming platforms, and use bots to artificially inflate play counts for fraudulent royalty payments. Earlier this year, a North Carolina man pleaded guilty to collecting more than $8 million in royalties through such a scheme involving hundreds of thousands of AI-generated songs and billions of fake streams.

Suno also revised its community guidelines to explicitly prohibit scams, spam, fake engagement, deceptive audio presented as authentic, recreations of existing songs, and unauthorized use of copyrighted material or individuals' voices and likenesses.

Why it matters

The watermarking initiative represents a significant shift for generative AI music platforms, which have struggled to balance creative accessibility with fraud prevention and copyright compliance. As AI-generated content floods streaming services, the technology threatens to undermine royalty systems that compensate human artists. Suno's approach—enabling detection without restricting creative use—could become a template for the broader generative media industry as it faces regulatory scrutiny.

Walking a fine line

Shulman emphasized that the watermarking technology is "designed to be durable and resistant to tampering, without affecting the listening experience" and is "not intended to pass judgment on whether a song is good, meaningful, or sufficiently human." He stated that decisions about AI disclosure should rest with artists and platforms.

The company recently announced plans to offer vinyl pressing of AI-generated songs, positioning the technology as a legitimate creative tool rather than disposable content.

Legal pressures mount

The policy changes arrive as Suno defends itself on multiple legal fronts. Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment are suing the company for allegedly training its AI models on copyrighted recordings without authorization. Warner Music Group, originally part of that lawsuit, settled with Suno last year and established a framework allowing participating artists to approve use of their music and likeness in AI-generated content.

Last week, a German court ruled that Suno violated copyrights of musicians represented by GEMA, the country's music-licensing agency. Suno is disputing the ruling and considering an appeal.

Separately, the company faces a proposed class-action lawsuit in Massachusetts over a data breach that allegedly exposed personal information of more than 55 million users. According to 404 Media, the breach revealed that Suno scraped content from YouTube, Deezer, Genius, and other online sources to train its models.

Suno did not respond to requests for comment, Gizmodo reported.

Meanwhile, Spotify and Universal recently announced a tool enabling users to create AI-generated covers and remixes using music from participating artists, signaling broader industry acceptance of AI music technology under controlled conditions.