Suno, the AI music generator that continues to divide the industry, has inked a licensing deal with BMG , marking its second partnership with a significant music rights holder as it prepares to launch new models powered by licensed work.

Under the agreement, announced August 12, Suno will pay an undisclosed sum to license BMG’s repertoire of recordings from its artists. The deal also covers Suno’s use of BMG songs to train its past models and data, and states artists and songwriters must opt in to having their music used for AI inputs and outputs.

BMG Rights Management represents more than 3 million songs and publishing rights for songwriters and musicians including Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Bruno Mars, John Legend, Bebe Rexha, Pitbull, Diane Warren, and Lewis Capaldi.

BMG joins Warner Music Group in settling with the music-generation company and moving forward in partnership. WMG signed a global deal in November 2025, which also settled all past copyright litigation.

Universal Music Group, the largest music corporation and recorded music rights holder in the world, remains embroiled in copyright lawsuits with Suno. Sony Music Entertainment continues active legal disputes with the company, with no licensing agreement in place.

“We believe the future of music will be more participatory, creating entirely new ways for artists and fans to connect," Mikey Shulman, Suno co-founder and CEO, said in a statement. " Building that future responsibly means working directly with the people who make music and the companies that represent them. Together with BMG, we can develop new experiences that give artists and songwriters real choice, generate new revenue, and make music a bigger part of people’s lives.”

Celine Joshua, BMG’s executive VP of global marketing & streaming, noted: “The future of AI in music will be defined by whether artists and songwriters remain at the center of the opportunity and share in the value it creates. Choice is the guiding principle. This agreement establishes strong protections, clear economics, and new creative possibilities for artists and their fans. As we enter the era of creation, we look forward to shaping that future together with our creators and Suno.”

Touted as a “global alliance,” the Suno deal marks a significant step for BMG in acknowledging AI’s role in music. BMG in March 2026 filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Anthropic in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California accusing that AI company of using unauthorized copyrighted lyrics from nearly 500 songs to train its Claude AI models.

It also comes days after Suno announced plans for its next evolution. The company, which officially released its broad web platform in December 2023, said on August 10 it will restrict the number of downloads subscribers are able to pull from its platform, beginning in September. Suno also committed to adopting audio watermarking and fingerprinting technology that could aid distribution platforms in battling "fraud and misuse.”

Suno in June 2026 raised more than $400 million at a $5.4 billion valuation. The company has stated more than 100 million people have used its platform.