Suno Raises $125 Million for AI Music Creation — With ChatGPT-Style Prompts

Photo Credit: BandLab

Suno has announced it has raised $125 million in its latest funding round to continue expanding its AI music generation suite of tools.Suno was founded by Mikey Shulman and has quickly become a rising star in the world of generative AI for music creation. The platform allows anyone to create original songs by entering text prompts or lyrics, with the AI generating full melodies, harmonies, and fully-formed compositions from the prompt.

“Our mission at Suno is to democratize music creation and unlock the musical creativity within everyone,” Shulman says in the press release announcing the latest funding round. “With this new investment, we will accelerate the development of our AI technology, expand our reach, and empower a billion people worldwide to express themselves through music.”

The $125 million funding round was led by venture capital firms including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross, Matrix, and Founder Collective. Suno’s AI platform has the potential to give rise to a new wave of artists and creators by lowering the barrier for entry into music creation. Suno’s rise and massive funding round comes in the middle of a heated debate over the use of AI in the music industry.Training AI models on copyrighted musical works without the explicit consent of artists and rights holders is the biggest bugbear addressed by Tennessee’s ELVIS Act—which has set a standard that may be met nationally. Suno has not disclosed the details of its training data and with outputs that can sound similar to popular songs, it raises questions about the potential for copyright infringement.

“We are committed to working closely with artists, labels, and publishers to create a sustainable and equitable ecosystem for AI-generated music,” Shulman says in the funding press release. “Together, we can unlock new creative possibilities, reach new audiences, and build a brighter future for music.”