Record Labels Allege Suno Illegally Stream-Ripped Songs from YouTube
Record labels, represented by the RIAA, filed an amended lawsuit on September 19, 2025, alleging that Suno circumvented YouTube's encryption to illegally download and stream-rip copyrighted music for training its AI models. The complaint names Universal, Sony, and Warner as victims and claims the company violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's anti-circumvention provisions.
What happened
In an amended complaint filed on September 19, 2025, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) accused Suno of unlawfully "stream ripping" tracks from YouTube—a practice that converts content captured from streaming platforms into downloadable files.
The RIAA alleges that Suno "employed code to access, extract, copy, and download" copyrighted works from Universal, Sony, and Warner, and circumvented YouTube's "rolling cipher" encryption designed to prevent unauthorized copying.
The complaint alleges that Suno knowingly circumvented YouTube's technological measures in violation of the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and that this circumvention "has facilitated Suno's ongoing and mass-scale infringement."
Reported impact
The record labels allege that Suno used copyrighted music obtained through circumvention of YouTube's protections to train its generative AI music models.
Index analysis
The complaint focuses on Suno's alleged use of "stream ripping" techniques to bypass YouTube's technological protections, which the RIAA characterizes as a form of music piracy prohibited by YouTube's terms of service.
The case applies Section 1201 of the DMCA, which prohibits circumventing technological measures that control access to protected works. The RIAA notes that no specific exception currently exists under DMCA Section 1201 for training AI tools.
Governance controls
Suno has not made its training datasets public and has been vague about how the data was acquired. The company has claimed that training its models on copyrighted materials is legally protected.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.