Jason Isbell and other musicians file lawsuit against AI software Suno, alleging it copies artists’ identity and style without consent

Artists including Jason Isbell have filed a lawsuit against AI platform Suno, alleging that the software allows users to copy artists’ identity and musical style without consent. Isbell filed the 84-page lawsuit alongside jazz saxophonist Eduardo Calle, Camper Van Beethoven’s David Lowery, and blues guitarist and songwriter Guy Forsyth in a Massachusetts federal court on Monday (August 31). In the suit, they put forward 17 claims that the AI music-creating software violated several laws regarding personal publicity rights. Instead of honing in on instances where specific songs may have been ripped off and putting forward copyright claims, the artists instead take aim at the overall structure of the platform – specifically how it allows users to type in a name of an artist, and have the platform quickly generate AI music that has a similar style and sound to the musician in question. Examples in the lawsuit included an instance where typing “Jason Isbell” into Suno led to the platform making an AI song called ‘Paper Bell’ that it described as “contemporary Americana singer-songwriter with fingerpicked acoustic guitar” and a vocal style allegedly similar to that of Isbell. There was ...