Will an AI Artist Sue Me for Infringing Their IP Rights?
AI is splitting music into three lanes—AI, AI+Human, and Human. After a month-long Suno sprint, here's how I see the landscape and the IP questions it raises.
Will an AI Artist Sue Me for Infringing Their IP Rights? Is AI changing the music landscape? Here's my take after a month-long Suno sprint.
I played devil’s advocate and spent a month creating with Suno (prompt-based music software) — many tracks were bulk; a few had genuine emotional pull. Seriously, some AI music sounds great. But it often also sounds like recognisable human artists.
The current landscape has plenty of grey areas, but I grouped music into three lanes to find a spot for each type: AI, AI+Human, and Human.
1) AI
Low-cost, instant, emotion-adjacent (also glitchy at times!). Great for automation, shorts, ads, and background music — yet sometimes artistic enough to enjoy as such.
2) AI + Human
Scale and soul — you get the current mainstream sound faster. Good for the “industrial design” of music like pop, film/TV, and high-quality brand soundtracks. Here, AI is an assistant, not the creator or artist.
3) Human-Only
The most authentic form of music — luxury, if you will. Time-intensive — at times, pain-intensive. This is where the biggest emotional connection can happen: identity meets authenticity. Strengths include live performance and intimate, focused listening.
Most listeners, IMHO, don’t care how music was made. They just feel it, or they don’t. To me at least, some AI tracks now pass as human-made.
The IP side of things
The music business is built on music rights — i.e., intellectual property. As a rights holder, you can claim revenue for streams, radio play, and music licensing.
Now companies with trained AIs like Suno and Udio are challenging that idea. They claim broad licences to inputs and outputs in their systems, while some outputs can resemble existing music. As a human creator, I feel the need to protect my intellectual property more than ever before.
Legislation is lagging behind, but I hope all three music types can co-exist without unauthorised exploitation of human-made music. Major labels can — and already do — look after themselves, but I hope for respect and compensation for all human creators.