GEMA is taking legal action against Suno Inc, an American provider of AI-generated audio content. It is accusing the company of processing protected recordings of world-famous songs from GEMA's repertoire in the tool without paying remuneration. GEMA was able to document that the system outputs content that obviously infringes copyrights. In terms of melody, harmony and rhythm, these largely correspond to world-famous works whose authors GEMA represents.
The results clearly show that Suno Inc. has systematically used GEMA's repertoire to train its music tool and is now exploiting it commercially without giving the authors of the works a financial share. Users of the premium version of the AI tool, on the other hand, have to pay a subscription fee to Suno Inc.
Dr. Tobias Holzmüller, CEO of GEMA, says: “Human creativity is the basis of every generative AI. But this market has so far lacked elementary principles such as transparency, fairness and respect. AI providers such as Suno Inc. use our members' works without their consent and profit financially from them. At the same time, the output generated in this way competes with the works created by humans and deprives them of their economic basis. GEMA is striving for partnership-based solutions with AI companies. But this will not work without compliance with the necessary basic rules of fair cooperation and, above all, it will not work without the acquisition of licenses.”
"Brave new world" as possible scenario?
Dr. Ralf Weigand, Chairman of the GEMA Supervisory Board, says: “Generative AI tools such as the music tool from Suno Inc. unabashedly make use of compositions and lyrics that do not belong to them. If we don't want to do without man-made music in the future, we urgently need a legal framework that guarantees authors an appropriate share of the value created by AI providers. Otherwise, we will very quickly reach the point where no one will be able to make a living from their creative work – a 'brave new world' after all human creativity in music has ended!”
GEMA filed a lawsuit against OpenAI with the Munich Regional Court back in November 2024. It accuses the company of reproducing protected song lyrics by GEMA members without having acquired licenses or paid the authors of the works used. With the current lawsuit, GEMA is now extending its activities to its core area, namely the licensing of playable music titles. In the USA, the AI tool from Suno Inc. is already the subject of a lawsuit by the music industry, whereas in Europe, GEMA's lawsuit is the first against one of the leading providers of AI music tools.
www.gema.de | www.suno.com
