Elvis's and Eminem's rights holders sue Suno, using a Tennessee law named after the King

Suno has two more famous names on its list of legal problems. A group that controls Elvis Presley's music has filed suit, and so has a publisher behind several of Eminem's best-known records. Both say Suno's AI turns out songs and lyrics that copy those artists, Terrence O'Brien reports for The Verge.

The Elvis angle

The Presley suit leans on a fitting law: Tennessee's ELVIS Act, short for Ensuring Likeness, Voice and Image Security, which bars AI companies from copying a performer's voice. The complaint's language is not subtle. It accuses Suno of building artists' identities and work into its system and turning them into a steady stream of money, and calls its approach a race to the bottom that aims to make human creativity obsolete.

These suits closely follow one filed in September by Jason Isbell and others, which said Suno made imitations of the plaintiffs without directly claiming copyright infringement. That framing matters: likeness and voice laws can apply even where copyright arguments get complicated.

Suno's answer

In a statement to The Verge, Suno spokesperson Cat McCormack said the company's goal is new, original music, and that it isn't trying to profit from any artist's name or image. The company says it blocks prompts naming specific artists or songs, uses outside providers to screen uploaded audio and lyrics for misuse, and keeps adding safeguards.

The pile

Suno already faces suits from Sony, UMG, Isbell, Reservoir Media and others. The new cases add state likeness law to the mix, and Tennessee wrote its law with exactly this scenario in mind.

For anyone building generative audio, the takeaway is that blocking an artist's name in the prompt box isn't the same as not sounding like them. Courts will be asked what the model can produce, not just what users are allowed to type.

Scoreboard update: Humans +1. The estates of Elvis and Eminem take an AI music company to court over their voices.

Stay undead.