Elvis Presley and Eminem may come from entirely different generations and genres of music, but their rights holders are making the same claim against AI music generator Suno: that the platform is illegally using their voice and songs to train its AI models.
Two recent lawsuits against Suno are in the headlines now, but the Massachusetts company is no stranger to legal trouble over how it trains its AI models. Suno has also been sued by major music labels Universal Music Group, Warner, and Sony, country music singer Jason Isbell, and music publisher Reservoir Media.
Now, in two separate federal lawsuits, Suno is up against the rights holders of Elvis’ music and the publisher of some of Eminem’s biggest hits. These lawsuits, brought by Elvis Presley Enterprises and Eight Mile Style, accuse Suno of unauthorized copyright and likeness infringement across more than 1,100 compositions, including songs associated with both artists.
Both lawsuits allege that Suno used copyrighted music without permission to train its AI models to generate songs, including vocals, lyrics, and instrumentals. The Elvis-related lawsuit also alleges that Suno generated and distributed music imitating Presley’s voice without authorization.
Eminem Suit Says Suno Seeks Forgiveness Rather than Permission
According to the complaint from Eminem’s publisher, Eight Mile Style, Suno:
- Used copyrighted songs without permission to train its AI models and generate new music
- Bypassed technical protections on streaming services and paywalled platforms (including Spotify, YouTube, and Tidal) to obtain copyrighted works
- Intentionally removed copyright management information (CMI), such as song titles and songwriter credits, while collecting music and lyrics for AI training. The complaint cites that removing this copyright information makes it easier to conceal infringement and harder for rights holders to identify and protect their works.
The complaint repeatedly argues that Suno's business model was to infringe first, make a massive profit, and settle in court later. “Seeking forgiveness is clearly more profitable than permission, which they obviously could have done but consciously chose not to do”, the complaint states.
Eight Mile Style alleges infringement of 269 of Eminem’s works, including megahits “Lose Yourself” and “The Real Slim Shady,” and seeks statutory damages that could exceed $47 million.
“The Next Elvis Won’t Pick Up a Guitar”
Unlike the lawsuit filed by Eminem's publisher, the Elvis Presley case goes beyond copyright claims. The Elvis lawsuit alleges that Suno not only used copyrighted songs to train its AI models, but also generated and distributed music that imitates the iconic rock-and-roll star's voice and likeness in violation of Tennessee's ELVIS Act and the state's right of publicity laws.
In the complaint by Elvis Presley Enterprises, the plaintiff states that “the next Elvis won’t pick up a guitar. Suno’s ravenous race to the bottom aims to make human creativity obsolete, coldly replicating without a license in seconds what takes years to learn, struggle with, maintain, and endlessly attempt to make better and perfect.”
Elvis rights holders expressed grave concern for the future of human-made music, continuing, “begging the question from future generations who would attempt to start what is already an arduous, uncertain, and not always lucrative creative pursuit: ‘What’s the point?’”
The plaintiffs in the Elvis-related lawsuit are seeking more than $202 million in damages related to a staggering 859 copyrighted works.
Elvis Lawsuit Cites the ELVIS Act
One of the Elvis lawsuit’s key claims involves Tennessee’s Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security (ELVIS) Act, which was enacted in 2024 to address growing concerns around AI voice cloning and protect artists from AI misuse.
The Act updated state law to protect people from unauthorized use of their voices. It prohibits:
- Knowingly using someone's voice or likeness without their consent to sell or promote something
- Publishing or distributing unauthorized voice or likeness content
- Providing AI tools primarily designed to clone a specific person’s likeness
How Does Suno Artificial Intelligence Work?
Using large generative AI models, Suno lets users create complete songs from text prompts. Users can describe a genre, mood, theme, or musical style, and Suno generates a completely finished track. Like many AI music platforms, Suno operates on a "freemium" model, meaning there is a free tier offering limited access, but users can get full access to features with a monthly subscription fee.
A central issue in the lawsuits is how Suno trains its models. Court filings state the company has acknowledged using "all music files of reasonable quality that are accessible on the open Internet" to train its AI systems. However, it denies allegations that its platform unlawfully recreates artists’ intellectual property.
What’s the Outlook for Suno and AI-Generated Music?
Suno has denied the allegations above, claiming its platform prohibits unauthorized use of artists’ work and doesn’t allow user prompts requesting a specific musician or song. However, in a separate court filing, the company acknowledged allowing artist names in prompts since January 2026 while arguing that it only serves as a shorthand for musical characteristics, not an instruction to impersonate the artists.
Still, it finds itself defending against a growing number of lawsuits from music conglomerates and artists. While each case is unique, many center on the same unresolved legal questions regarding AI music and copyrighted works. Stay tuned.
