A coalition of independent songwriters has filed a federal lawsuit in Illinois against artificial intelligence music generator Suno AI, accusing the company of illegally using their copyrighted songs and lyrics to train its generative music models. The suit comes just one day after the same group lodged nearly identical claims against rival AI music firm Udio.
Filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the complaint brings multiple federal and state claims, including direct and vicarious copyright infringement, removal or alteration of copyright management information, circumvention of access controls, and violations of Illinois state law.
Songwriters Say AI Companies “Weaponized” Their Music
“Plaintiffs are independent musicians and songwriters whose livelihoods depend on licensing and recognition of their works,” the lawsuit states. “They have invested time, talent, and resources to create original music, only to see Suno wrongly appropriate and weaponize their work against them.”
According to the complaint, nine individual songwriters and one company allege that Suno trained its AI on vast amounts of copyrighted material without consent or compensation. They claim Suno relied on Common Crawl—a massive dataset of web-scraped content—to source lyrics from sites like Genius, AZLyrics, and Musixmatch, effectively ingesting protected works into its model.
The plaintiffs argue that such use undermines their creative and economic rights, particularly for independent artists, who lack the resources of major labels to protect their intellectual property.
Second Lawsuit in Two Days
The case follows a nearly identical lawsuit filed Wednesday in the same court against AI music startup Udio, reflecting a broader campaign by the plaintiffs to hold AI developers accountable for unlicensed data use.
“AI shouldn’t put working musicians’ livelihoods at risk,” said Ross Kimbarovsky, an attorney for the songwriters, in a statement Friday. “Our complaints allege Suno and Udio used artists’ recordings and lyrics without permission or pay. We look forward to securing justice for our clients and reaffirming that AI companies must follow the same legal rules as everyone else.”
Broader Implications for AI and Copyright
The case adds to a growing wave of legal actions targeting generative AI companies across creative industries — including music, art, and publishing — over alleged misuse of copyrighted data in training large-scale models. Courts are increasingly being asked to define how traditional copyright law applies to AI systems that “learn” from protected material to generate new content.
Representation and Case Information
The songwriters are represented by Ross Kimbarovsky, Jon Loevy, Michael Kanovitz, Matthew Topic, and Aaron Tucek of Loevy & Loevy.
Counsel information for Suno Inc. was not immediately available, and the company did not respond to requests for comment.
The case is Woulard et al. v. Suno Inc., Case No. 1:25-cv-12684, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
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