Jason Isbell Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Suno Coded AI

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Jason Isbell. Photo: Christy Bush

Jason Isbell has filed a class action lawsuit against Suno AI, as reported by Billboard.

The lawsuit states that by prompting the model with a musician’s name, users can generate songs, descriptions and artwork that “can conjure up a beloved musician’s identity.” Isbell is leading the case alongside David Lowery, Guy Forsyth and Ed Calle. The group alleges the company is violating their rights of publicity under various state statutes, which is different from the current copyright litigation between Suno and other music rights holders.

“Suno’s system recognizes ‘Jason Isbell’ as far more than a mere text string; it is a retrieval key for a set of performer-specific representations that it can use to generate a response associated with that musician,” the lawsuit states. “From a name prompt alone, a user receives a multi-modal experience evoking that named musician. This includes access to a generated song like one the named musician might create, a description of the musician’s attributes and a related image. This is true for countless other musicians.”

“We believe these claims are without merit, and we intend to defend against them,” a Suno spokesperson shared with Billboard. “Suno exists to help people create new, original music, not to trade on anyone’s name. We stand by the many protections we have put into place across the platform, including blocking prompts for specific artists’ names or copyrighted songs. We also work with third-party technology providers to screen uploaded audio files and lyrics for potential unauthorized use of artists’ work.”

Lauryn Sink
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