Suno's new licensing deal with the music label BMG adds download caps and watermarks

BMG and Suno announced a global licensing alliance on August 12 covering BMG's recorded music and publishing catalogs, for artists and songwriters who choose to take part, and the deal settles Suno's past use of BMG's works. Unlike Warner Music Group's earlier settlement with the AI company, BMG was never a plaintiff in the copyright case the RIAA coordinated against Suno in 2024, so there was no lawsuit to resolve, only past use to be paid for. BMG's Celine Joshua, the label's EVP of Global Marketing and Streaming, framed the deal around giving artists and songwriters a choice in how their work is used. "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."

The licensing pact arrives alongside a separate set of controls Suno is rolling out on its own platform. Starting September 3, a song sitting in a paying subscriber's library can't be released, sold or licensed until a download has been spent on it, with free users capped at seven lifetime downloads, Pro subscribers at 20 a month and Premier subscribers at 60. Free-tier downloads carry no commercial rights at all, so a download cap effectively becomes a toll on getting Suno-made music onto a streaming platform. Rival AI company Udio went further after settling with Universal Music Group last year, disabling downloads outright; Suno has chosen to meter them instead.

Suno is also adding audio watermarking and fingerprinting technology in the coming weeks, tools designed to let distribution platforms identify its songs once they leave the app, and to spot fraud before it reaches streaming services. The company already screens uploaded audio and lyrics through Audible Magic and Musixmatch, the latter of which recently signed Suno as the first customer for its Sentinel copyright-detection tool. A tamper-resistant watermark would close a gap that has left Spotify and distributors like TuneCore leaning on artists to self-disclose AI use, or on automated detection after the fact.

Not every dispute over who gets paid for AI use is settling as smoothly. The American Federation of Musicians sued Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group on June 5, claiming the majors had licensed union members' recordings to Udio and, in Warner's case, Suno, without compensation or credit. UMG has asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing the labor agreement the union cites fixes no rate for AI use; the union amended its complaint on July 24 to name Warner Records and Atlantic Recording Corp. directly.

The deal is the latest step in Suno's attempt to go legitimate after a rocky year of legal fights. It follows Suno's November 2025 settlement and licensing partnership with Warner Music Group, and comes as the company also pushes into new territory, including a waitlist for pressing AI-made songs onto vinyl. Universal Music Group and Sony Music, however, are still suing Suno in the same litigation and are trying to add more than 61,000 recordings to the case, a sign that not every major rights holder is ready to follow BMG and Warner toward a licensed model rather than a courtroom.