BMG label signs a global licensing deal with AI music company Suno

BMG has signed a global licensing deal with Suno, the AI music-generation platform, Music Business Worldwide reported on August 12. The agreement, described by BMG as a "global alliance," covers the label's recorded and publishing repertoire, and lets participating BMG artists and songwriters opt in with their rights protected and compensated, while also settling prior unlicensed use of BMG recordings and works.

Suno co-founder and CEO Mikey Shulman said the deal reflects a broader shift in how the company wants to work with the music industry. "We believe the future of music will be more participatory, creating entirely new ways for artists and fans to connect," he said, adding that building that future responsibly means working directly with the people who make music and the companies that represent them.

BMG executive vice president Celine Joshua framed the deal around consent. "The future of AI in music will be defined by whether artists and songwriters remain at the center of the opportunity," she said. "Choice is the guiding principle," she added, saying the agreement establishes protections and new creative possibilities for artists and fans.

BMG, which is owned by Germany's Bertelsmann, was among a coalition of music companies that proposed principles in July to keep unauthorized AI-generated recordings off official charts. The label represents more than 3 million songs and recordings from artists and songwriters including will.i.am, Jean-Michel Jarre, Tina Turner, Jason Aldean, Jelly Roll and Paul Simon, and posted FY2025 revenue of 900 million euros, about $1.02 billion, with adjusted operating EBITDA reaching an all-time high of 284 million euros, about $321 million.

That roster is set to grow: BMG has agreed to a multi-billion-dollar merger with fellow rightsholder Concord, cleared by regulators in Germany and the US and expected to close in the fourth quarter. Concord has invested more than $3 billion since 2020 across publishing, recorded music, theatrical rights and distribution, and represents a roster of more than 125,000 artists and songwriters.

BMG is the first significant rightsholder to sign a Suno licensing deal since Warner Music Group struck its own alliance with the company nine months earlier. Universal Music Group and Sony Music Group remain in an ongoing US lawsuit against Suno, each alleging widespread copyright infringement during the training of the company's earlier models.

The BMG deal lands the same week Suno confirmed it will restrict how many downloads subscribers can pull from the platform, aiming to make it harder for bad actors to mass-export music, and commit to new audio watermarking and fingerprinting technology to combat fraud and misuse. Those changes are meant to help align Suno with the EU AI Act's transparency rules around machine-readable markers in AI-generated content.

Suno raised more than $400 million in June at a $5.4 billion valuation and says more than 100 million people have used its platform, though it lost a legal fight last month with German collection society GEMA, which found Suno was not entitled to use GEMA-represented music and ordered it to disclose revenue and pay damages. Suno told Music Business Worldwide it is evaluating its options, including an appeal. It comes in the same week MusicSuey covered Spotify's plan to label AI artists and two AI-generated country acts turning big money.