Rights holders for Elvis Presley and the publisher of several Eminem records filed lawsuits against AI music platform Suno, targeting the unauthorized synthesis of artist voices and styles.
The Presley complaint invokes Tennessee’s Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security (ELVIS) Act, which explicitly prohibits AI voice cloning. Lawyers representing the Presley estate stated that Suno has systematically encoded artist identities and creative output into its models to generate commercial output. This action follows a September suit filed by Jason Isbell and others alleging similar unauthorized imitations.
Responding to the litigation, Suno spokesperson Cat McCormack stated that the platform exists to help users create original music and prohibits unauthorized likeness trading. McCormack added that Suno blocks prompts featuring specific artist names while deploying third-party filters for uploaded files. However, with Sony, UMG, Reservoir Media, and independent artists pursuing legal action, mounting liabilities threaten the core unit economics of unlicensed model training.