Skip to content
The AI Musicpreneur
The AI Musicpreneur
  • News
    • Music News
    • Tool News
  • AI Music Hub
    • ↳ Create AI Music Videos
  • AI Tools
    • All AI tools
    • ↳ AI mixing & mastering
    • ↳ AI music generators
    • ↳ AI music video generators
    • ↳ AI stem splitter
    • ↳ AI voice cloning
    • ↳ AI VST plugin
    • ↳ AI music FAQ
  • Music Promotion
    • The AI fanbase builder (Course + Prompts)
    • ↳ How to promote your music in 2025!
    • ↳ Write an artist bio with AI
    • ↳ Write a press release
  • Work With Me
    • Book Me As a Speaker
    • Promote Your AI Tool
    • About Me
  • News
    • Music News
    • Tool News
  • AI Music Hub
    • ↳ Create AI Music Videos
  • AI Tools
    • All AI tools
    • ↳ AI mixing & mastering
    • ↳ AI music generators
    • ↳ AI music video generators
    • ↳ AI stem splitter
    • ↳ AI voice cloning
    • ↳ AI VST plugin
    • ↳ AI music FAQ
  • Music Promotion
    • The AI fanbase builder (Course + Prompts)
    • ↳ How to promote your music in 2025!
    • ↳ Write an artist bio with AI
    • ↳ Write a press release
  • Work With Me
    • Book Me As a Speaker
    • Promote Your AI Tool
    • About Me
FREE PROMPTS

Suno CEO apologizes for “Don’t enjoy making music” comment but doubles down on copyrighted training data use

  • March 16, 2026
  • Picture of Christopher Wieduwilt - The AI Musicpreneur Christopher Wieduwilt - The AI Musicpreneur
I built a FREE AI prompt library that big labels & major artists are using
The AI Musicpreneur
✓ TikTok video scripts that get attention

✓ Press releases that get featured
✓ Newsletters fans actually read
✓ Bios that 3x profile clicks

Steal the prompts 1,400+ artists use to reclaim 15+ hours / week.

Read by industry leaders:

The AI Musicpreneur
I created a FREE 5-day email course that 1,400+ artists use to get fans who pay, not just play.
The AI Musicpreneur

What you’ll learn:
✓ Day 1: Define your USP
✓ Day 2: Create a song release strategy
✓ Day 3: Turn content ideas into videos
✓ Day 4: Win email subscribers with freebies
✓ Day 5: Turn them into fans that pay, not just play

Get the exact system that helps artists build careers they can live on.

Read by industry leaders:

The AI Musicpreneur
Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
  1. The AI Fanbase Builder: My flagship course and prompt library endorsed by music industry leaders. The AI Fanbase Builder teaches you step-by-step frameworks for growing your audience, getting noticed on social media, and turning followers into paying fans. Come learn proven strategies to build a thriving music career with AI.
  2. AI Music Newsletter: Join 2,000+ music professionals who use my proven AI tools, prompts, and workflows. Subscribers save 10+ hours weekly on music creation and promotion tasks that used to take days.
  3. Promote your AI tool to 2,000+ music pros weekly: Put your music brand in my newsletter where musicians, producers and industry pros, including Grammy winners and label executives, are already looking for AI music tools and insights each Wednesday.

Trusted by industry leaders:

The AI Musicpreneur
4 AI music tools you need to know:

Get quality mixing & mastering in 1 place → RoEx 

Create music videos in seconds → Neural Frames.

Separate stems easily. 15% off with “aimusicpreneur” →  Lalal.ai

Create viral shorts in seconds. 10% off with “AIMUSIC10″→ Submagic.

The AI Musicpreneur
Credit: YouTube Screenshot
Suno CEO Mikey Shulman apologized for calling music-making unenjoyable but maintained his admission that Suno trained on copyrighted recordings, calling it standard industry practice.

Key Highlights:

  • Shulman told Billboard he “really wished he had chosen different words” about making music being unenjoyable, but made no apology for admitting Suno trained on copyrighted recordings
  • The March 2026 walkback coincided with Suno disclosing 2 million paid subscribers and $300 million in annual recurring revenue
  • UMG and Sony Music lawsuits remain active in US federal courts despite Suno’s November 2025 settlement with Warner Music

Apology arrives as Suno hits $300M ARR

The AI Musicpreneur

Suno CEO Mikey Shulman offered a public apology in March 2026 for his January comments on the 20VC podcast, where he claimed “the majority of people don’t enjoy the majority of the time they spend making music.” He told Billboard: “I really wish I had chosen different words. I do have a lot of respect for music.”

The timing is notable. The walkback landed days after Suno disclosed 2 million paid subscribers and $300 million in annual recurring revenue. This is not Shulman’s first piece of provocative public positioning — he previously compared AI music to Ozempic and claimed musicians secretly use AI while denying it publicly.

Three claims, one retraction

The original 20VC interview contained three distinct statements. Shulman said making music is mostly unenjoyable, “taste is the only thing that matters in art and skill is going to matter a lot less,” and Suno used “copyright protected music” in training as “stock standard” practice “every AI company does.””

His March 2026 statement walked back only the first claim. The “skill matters less” position and the training data admission stand. The RIAA’s landmark lawsuits against Suno seek up to $150,000 per infringed work, making the training data admission the most legally consequential statement Shulman has made publicly.

Copyright admission carries more weight than the opinion

The takeaway: The backlash over creative dignity drowned out a more damaging statement, one plaintiffs are far more likely to quote in court.

Ed Newton-Rex of Fairly Trained and James Blake both publicly criticized Shulman for dismissing the value of musical craft. The training data confession registered almost nowhere outside legal circles. Meanwhile, the GEMA lawsuit in Germany and Koda proceedings in Denmark continue alongside active US cases from UMG and Sony.

Shulman is now rebranding the Warner Music settlement as a “partnership.” The deal required Suno to retire its current model in favor of one trained on licensed content only, a forced legal outcome rather than a strategic choice. This mirrors how UMG framed its own contradictions, telling investors AI was “not a material issue” while suing Suno for mass infringement. MBW founder Tim Ingham laid out the accountability gap in an open letter to Shulman.

The AI Musicpreneur

Suno’s hiring of former Merlin CEO Jeremy Sirota as Chief Commercial Officer confirms the business pivot. Sirota is the hire you make when you want licensing deals, not court battles. Digital Music News reporting on the backtrack noted Shulman maintained his fair use position even after the apology.

Sony lawsuit outcome matters more than the apology

For producers and music professionals, the operative question is what a Sony ruling means for every Suno subscriber. A decision against Suno forces a full model rebuild, changing output quality and pricing for everyone on the platform. Udio took a different approach, striking a licensed training deal with Merlin before building at scale. Suno extracted maximum value from unlicensed data first, then pivoted to licensing once the legal exposure made the old model untenable.

95% of UK music creators rejected AI copyright exceptions in 2025, with 88% demanding compensation for training data use. The creator community consensus was never aligned with the “”stock standard”” framing. Suno built a $300M business on unlicensed data and is now pivoting to licensing. The apology is PR cover for a business decision already in motion.

Frequently asked questions

What did Suno CEO Mikey Shulman say about making music?

On the 20VC podcast in January 2026, Shulman claimed “the majority of people don’t enjoy the majority of the time they spend making music” and “skill is going to matter a lot less” than taste. He also admitted Suno trained its AI on copyrighted recordings, describing it as “stock standard” practice.

Did Suno CEO apologize for his comments?

Shulman told Billboard he “really wished he had chosen different words” about making music being unenjoyable. He did not retract his claim about skill mattering less, or his admission about using copyrighted training data for AI training.

Is Suno still being sued over copyright infringement?

Yes. While Suno settled with Warner Music in November 2025, UMG and Sony Music lawsuits remain active in US federal courts. GEMA in Germany and Koda in Denmark are also continuing legal proceedings against Suno.

How big is Suno’s business in 2026?

Suno reported 2 million paid subscribers and $300 million in annual recurring revenue as of February 2026. The company is also developing “Hooks,” a TikTok-style social feed for AI-generated music clips.

Why did Suno settle with Warner Music but not other labels?

The Warner settlement required Suno to retire its current model and launch a new one trained exclusively on licensed content. UMG and Sony chose to continue litigation rather than settle, keeping their cases active in Boston and New York federal courts.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

  1. The AI Fanbase Builder: My flagship course and prompt library endorsed by music industry leaders. The AI Fanbase Builder teaches you step-by-step frameworks for growing your audience, getting noticed on social media, and turning followers into paying fans. Come learn proven strategies to build a thriving music career with AI.
  2. AI Music Newsletter: Join 2,000+ music professionals who use my proven AI tools, prompts, and workflows. Subscribers save 10+ hours weekly on music creation and promotion tasks that used to take days.
  3. Promote your AI tool to 2,000+ music pros weekly: Put your music brand in my newsletter where musicians, producers and industry pros, including Grammy winners and label executives, are already looking for AI music tools and insights each Wednesday.
Previous
Next
author avatar
Christopher Wieduwilt - The AI Musicpreneur Founder, Content Creator
Christopher Wieduwilt, founder of the AI Musicpreneur, combines 15 years of music industry experience with AI expertise to empower artists. Having navigated the highs and lows himself, Christopher now shares AI music tools and strategies to help artists create, promote, and grow their fanbase. His mission is to guide musicians in winning 1,000 true fans in the AI era.
See Full Bio
Music Promotion AI music promotion AI stem separation AI mastering AI music generators
social network icon social network icon
Share the Post:

Related Posts

The AI Musicpreneur

DrumBot AI drum machine generates patterns from text prompts and audio files

DrumBot AI generates drum patterns from text descriptions or audio files in a browser-based sequencer, no DAW required.

Read More
The AI Musicpreneur

Muse Group survey: 78% of musicians open to AI tools, but most oppose AI replacing them

78% of musicians in a Muse Group survey are open to AI tools, but most draw the line at AI as a creative replacement or training without consent.

Read More
The AI Musicpreneur

I built a free AI prompt library that big labels & major artists are using.

✓ TikTok video scripts that get attention
✓ Press releases that get featured
✓ Newsletters fans actually read
✓ Bios that 3x profile clicks

Steal the prompts 2,000+ artists use to reclaim 15+ hours / week.

Read by industry leaders:

The AI Musicpreneur
The AI Musicpreneur

Follow me

Tiktok
Linkedin

Best AI TOOLs

  • AI mastering tools
  • AI music generators
  • AI music video generators
  • AI stem separation
  • AI voice cloning
  • AI mastering tools
  • AI music generators
  • AI music video generators
  • AI stem separation
  • AI voice cloning

Promotion

  • Course + Prompts: AI fanbase builder
  • Prompts: AI fanbase builder
  • Guide: AI music promotion
  • Guide: Write a press release
  • Guide: Write an artist bio
  • Course + Prompts: AI fanbase builder
  • Prompts: AI fanbase builder
  • Guide: AI music promotion
  • Guide: Write a press release
  • Guide: Write an artist bio

LEGAL

  • Impressum
  • Cookie Policy (EU)
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise here
  • Cookie Policy (UK)
  • Opt-out preferences
  • Cookie Policy (CA)
  • Cookie Policy (AU)
  • Cookie Policy (ZA)
  • Cookie Policy (BR)
  • Impressum
  • Cookie Policy (EU)
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise here
  • Cookie Policy (UK)
  • Opt-out preferences
  • Cookie Policy (CA)
  • Cookie Policy (AU)
  • Cookie Policy (ZA)
  • Cookie Policy (BR)

© The AI Musicpreneur 2026

Manage your privacy
We use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. We do this to improve browsing experience and to show (non-) personalized ads. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
  • Manage options
  • Manage services
  • Manage {vendor_count} vendors
  • Read more about these purposes
Manage options
  • {title}
  • {title}
  • {title}
Manage your privacy
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
  • Manage options
  • Manage services
  • Manage {vendor_count} vendors
  • Read more about these purposes
Manage options
  • {title}
  • {title}
  • {title}