Here’s Every Company Fighting Subpoenas in Suno’s Legal Fight With Universal and Sony Music
Categoria: Musica
Venture investors and a top streaming platform are among those challenging evidence demands in the landmark AI training copyright lawsuit.
Por Billboard | 27/10/2026
As Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sony Music continue battling Suno in court over seismic questions about AI training, both sides have sought to gather evidence from other key market players. But not everyone wants to give it over. The landmark music industry lawsuit is nearly two years into an arduous evidence discovery process that’s set to continue through mid-2027. After that, a judge will decide whether or not it was “fair use” for Suno to train its popular AI music service on millions of unlicensed tracks owned by UMG and Sony (Warner Music Group was initially a plaintiff in the lawsuit as well, but it reached a licensing settlement with Suno last year). Related Reservoir Sues Suno & Anthropic in Latest Lawsuits Over AI Music: ‘Meant to Replace the Artists’ Kenny MacPherson, Veteran Music Publisher and Big Deal Music Co-Founder, Dies at 71 Diddy Moved From New Jersey Prison to Similar Facility in Pennsylvania For much of the lengthy and complex discovery process, the labels and Suno have been exchanging documentary evidence and deposing each other’s witnesses. Then there is what’s known as “third-party discovery” — that is, subpoenas served on anyone that’s not UMG, Sony or Suno. Oct. 14 was a key deadline for these third-party subpoenas, prompting a slew of filings that shed light on the companies that don’t want to provide the evidence sought. One such filing came from Apple Music. According to a legal petition filed by the streamer and obtained by Billboard , Apple did willingly comply with six different document subpoenas that came from both the labels and Suno throughout the discovery process. The company says it provided “granular” data about the prevalence of Suno-generated music on its platform, as well as complex details about how it detects and tags AI music. This apparently has been sufficient for the labels. But, according to Apple, Suno still wants more. The AI platform is allegedly demanding that an Apple representative testify at a deposition covering such wide-ranging topics as label licensing and streaming fraud. Apple says this is “overbroad” and is asking a judge to block Suno’s deposition subpoena. Also on the Suno side, the AI company filed a discovery petition against the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC). Suno says the nonprofit group, which collects and distributes certain digital royalties to publishers and songwriters, hasn’t complied with its subpoena seeking data on how the music streaming market changed after its platform launched in 2023. Related UMG & Sony Demand DistroKid Tell How Many AI Songs It Uploads From Suno: ‘Staggering Scale’ According to Suno, the MLC’s data is “highly relevant” to the labels’ theory that AI music has eaten into their market share and royalty distributions. This could be key to the court’s fair use calculation; among other factors, the judge must weigh whether Suno-generated tracks are now competing with the same music that was used to train