Warner Music Group has signed an AI licensing deal with Suno.
“The deal brings together Suno’s best-in-class AI capabilities with WMG’s artist development leadership and expertise at the intersection of music and technology,” said a statement. The deal also settles previous litigation between the companies.
It follows last week’s Warner deal with AI firm Udio.
Robert Kyncl, CEO, WMG, said: “This landmark pact with Suno is a victory for the creative community that benefits everyone. With Suno rapidly scaling, both in users and monetisation, we’ve seized this opportunity to shape models that expand revenue and deliver new fan experiences.
“AI becomes pro-artist when it adheres to our principles: committing to licensed models, reflecting the value of music on and off platform, and providing artists and songwriters with an opt-in for the use of their name, image, likeness, voice and compositions in new AI songs.”
Mikey Shulman, CEO, Suno, said: “Our partnership with Warner Music unlocks a bigger, richer Suno experience for music lovers, and accelerates our mission to change the place of music in the world by making it more valuable to billions of people. Together, we can enhance how music is made, consumed, experienced and shared.
“This means we’ll be rolling out new, more robust features for creation, opportunities to collaborate and interact with some of the most talented musicians in the world, all while continuing to build the biggest music ecosystem possible.”
In 2026, Suno will make several changes to the platform, including launching new, more advanced and licensed models. Moving forward, downloading audio will require a paid account.
Suno will introduce download restrictions in certain scenarios. Songs made on the free tier will not be downloadable and will instead be playable and shareable. Paid tier users will have limited monthly download caps with the ability to pay for more downloads.
Suno has also acquired live music, concert-discovery platform Songkick from Warner Music Group, and will continue to run it as a fan destination, bringing together interactive music with live performance.
“The combination of Suno and Songkick will create new potential to deepen the artist-fan connection,” said a statement.
The WMG-Suno partnership will enable artists and songwriters to benefit from new revenue streams, alongside new interactive features that offer opportunities for deeper fan engagement.
Artists and songwriters will have full control over whether and how their names, images, likenesses, voices and compositions are used in new AI-generated music.
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