Reservoir is the latest music company to sue Suno and Anthropic, accusing the artificial intelligence labs in new lawsuits of infringing famous songs by Madonna, Johnny Cash and Joni Mitchell to train their models and “replace the artists.”
The indie publisher filed a pair of federal cases Wednesday (Oct. 21), alleging the two companies each effectively stole its copyrighted songs in order to create AI that could spit out new ones. Reservoir says each lab “built its entire business model based on copyright infringement at a scale never seen before.”
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“Suno made illicit copies of millions of copyrighted musical works, including Reservoir’s Works, and then— without any remuneration to the rights holders — created a platform where anyone capable of paying $10 per month can create complete songs based entirely on these illicit copies,” Reservoir’s attorney Richard Busch writes in the lawsuits, obtained and first reported Billboard.
The case claims that the two companies stole “some of the most iconic lyrics and melodies in music history,” including Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi,” Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” and Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach,” as well as other tracks by Glenn Miller, Kings of Leon, and Evanescence.
AI firms use millions of existing works to “train” models to create new ones — a process that’s sparked a flood of lawsuits from authors, visual artists, movie studios and record labels. AI labs say they’ve transformed all those works into something new that’s a form of legal fair use. Human authors disagree, and billions in potential damages and licenses turn on that unresolved legal battle.
Suno, the leading AI music firm, has long faced such litigation from major music companies and more recently from smaller publishers like Round Hill Music and groups of individual musicians. Anthropic, the AI giant behind Claude, has faced numerous such lawsuits across industries, including ongoing cases from music firms.
Warner Music Group reached a settlement to end its case against Suno last year, and the AI firm has since reached similar deals with BMG and Believe. Then earlier this year, the AI company launched a new model that it touted as a “partnership” with the music business. But Suno has failed to persuade Universal Music Group and Sony Music, which are continuing to sue in federal court and say that the new model is still illegal.
In Wednesday’s new case, Reservoir took a similar stance against Suno, sharply criticizing the company’s recent “about-face” and “sudden willingness” to work with the music industry.
“Suno’s business model was admittedly and clearly: infringe now, make billions by being the first mover, and try to settle on the cheap later,” Busch writes in that complaint. “Seeking forgiveness is clearly more profitable than permission, which they obviously could have done but consciously chose not to do.”
The platform was “never meant to be a tool for artists to create music,” Reservoir writes, “but was instead always meant to replace the artists whose works were being unlawfully copied by directly reaching those artists’ listeners with AI-generated substitutes which copy the originals.”
Reps for both Suno and Anthropic did not immediately return requests for comment on Thursday.
