Suno takes a ‘What, should I worry?’ approach to legal issues, rolls out a mobile app that generates AI music
Suno and its AI-powered music composition are now available as a mobile app for iOS in the US. The app brings Suno’s AI music creation and sharing tools to smartphones as the company attempts to stake a claim to the title of most successful AI music creator.
The Suno mobile app essentially takes what the Suno platform offers users, but with an interface better suited for handheld hardware. Users can describe a song and suggest lyrics, and the AI model will create an audio track to match. The app can also connect to your phone’s microphone to record audio from around you and process those sounds, whether it’s birdsong or conversations, into music. Music produced by the app can also be shared directly with your friends or through the app, where you can also discover and curate music created by others using Suno.
“We value originality, both in the way we build our product and in the way people use it. We’re excited that these joys can be experienced from your phone for the first time ever! With version one of our mobile app, you can discover new musical experiences wherever you are,” Suno co-founder Mikey Shulman explained in a blog post after. “Suno is built for new music, new applications, and new musicians. We’re excited to have it in your pocket when the moment happens, and to provide a rich set of tools to capture it.”
Legally sound
Suno claims that over 12 million people have tried their hand at making music with its platform. The launch of a mobile app (iOS-only for now) is likely to expand this community even further. Suno has already struck a deal with Microsoft to offer a plugin for Suno’s lyrics-to-music tool for Microsoft Copilot. The Suno app is free to download, with 50 credits per day, which equates to 10 short audio clips. For more advanced use, there are Pro and Premier subscriptions.
One unanswered question is whether the app, and Suno in general, will stick around for much longer. Suno and fellow AI music maker Udio are facing formidable lawsuits from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and several music labels. The lawsuits allege that the AI startups are infringing on copyrights because of the way its models are trained, raising larger questions about whether the songs Suno produces represent original creations or infringe on intellectual property rights.