The music industry stands at a precipice, simultaneously enthralled and terrified by the rise of generative artificial intelligence. At the eye of this storm is Mikey Shulman, the co-founder and CEO of Suno, an AI music company now valued at a staggering $2.45 billion (£1.83bn). His creation allows anyone to generate complete songs from simple text prompts, a power that has seen him hailed as both the architect of music's future and its potential executioner.
The Billion-Dollar Disruption
Founded just over two years ago, Suno has rapidly become a central figure in the AI debate. In a recent funding round in November 2024, the company raised $250 million (£187m), cementing its status as a Silicon Valley darling in a sector that attracted $34bn in private investment last year alone. Shulman envisions a future where music is "interactive" and "social," a format "you play with, not just play."
However, this vision has triggered an existential crisis. The utopian perspective sees AI as a powerful tool for democratising creativity, while the dystopian view warns of a flood of AI-generated "slop" that could render human musicians obsolete. The legal backlash has been swift and severe. In June 2024, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued Suno on behalf of major labels, alleging copyright infringement. German collection society GEMA followed with its own lawsuit in January 2025.
Legal Battles and the 'Open Internet'
The core of the dispute lies in how Suno trained its AI models. Shulman has stated the company trains on "medium- and high-quality music we can find on the open internet," arguing this constitutes fair use. The music industry vehemently disagrees. "Fair use does not apply when the output seeks to 'substitute' for the work copied," countered the RIAA.
When pressed on what constitutes the "open internet," Shulman became guarded, citing active litigation and trade secrets. "Copyright is a different thing," he stated, careful not to divulge specifics. Amidst this, Suno has secured a licensing deal with Warner Music Group (WMG), a move Shulman hopes proves AI companies and rights holders can partner productively. Details of the pact, including potential payments for past training data or equity stakes, remain confidential.
The Ozempic of Music and the 'Slop' Debate
Shulman, a former musician who turned to a physics PhD before co-founding Suno, rejects the notion that AI inherently devalues art. He compares the technology to digital recording or sampling—another step in music's technological evolution. On the quality of output, he is pragmatic and personal. "I made a really funny song with my four-year-old yesterday morning. That is 'slop' to you... but I love it," he said.
He revealed that some in the industry have privately called Suno "the Ozempic of the music industry—everybody is on it and nobody wants to talk about it." This speaks to a tension between public criticism and private experimentation. While high-profile musicians like The Anchoress have labelled AI "dystopian," Shulman insists many artists see it as a valuable creative tool for overcoming the "grunt work" of composition.
The scale of AI's infiltration is undeniable. Streaming service Deezer reports that over a third of music uploaded to it daily is AI-generated—around 50,000 tracks. Alarmingly, it estimates 70% of streams for this AI music are fraudulent, driven by bot farms seeking illicit royalties. In response, platforms are taking action: Deezer now tags AI tracks, while Bandcamp has banned music "generated wholly or in substantial part by AI."
Chart Scandals and Safeguards
AI music is already impacting charts, albeit controversially. The track I Run by Haven, alleged to have cloned Jorja Smith's voice using Suno, was barred from the UK charts. A human-re-recorded version later charted. In Sweden, the hit Jag Vet, Du Är Inte Min was removed from official charts for being "mainly AI-generated." Meanwhile, the AI-generated 70s rock band Velvet Sundown became a brief, million-stream phenomenon that Shulman dismisses as "a bit of a goof."
Suno also faced serious reputational damage last year when its technology was used to create tracks containing racist slurs and glorifying Adolf Hitler. Shulman downplayed the incident, calling it "a very small thing" with only a handful of plays, but confirmed the company has since developed "more rigorous safeguards."
As the legal and cultural battles rage, Shulman maintains a fundamental philosophy: "Music is not a problem to solve." For him, AI is not about finding a correct answer but about expanding possibility. Yet, with Suno reportedly having around 1 million paying subscribers on a standard £8.25 monthly plan, the question remains whether this expansion comes at the cost of the human soul that has powered music for millennia. The industry, and music lovers everywhere, await the answer.
