“Biggest Theft in Music History”: Rights Group Sues Suno as AI Music Showdown Escalates

As Suno eyes a $2 billion valuation, Koda has accused the AI music startup of training its models on copyrighted Danish tracks without consent.

The pushback against unlicensed AI music tools is entering a new phase after Danish rights organization Koda took legal action against Suno, a generative AI platform that creates songs from user-submitted text prompts.

Filed in the Copenhagen City Court, the lawsuit alleges that Suno used copyrighted works by Danish artists to train its AI models. Koda, which represents over 52,000 composers, lyricists and music publishers in Denmark, argues that Suno’s methods violate the country’s copyright law and pose a direct threat to the future viability of local music creators.

Among the examples cited are tracks generated by Suno’s AI that reportedly bear striking resemblance to works by Danish pop acts including MØ, Aqua and Christopher. Koda further claims that the company sourced data through unauthorized means such as stream-ripping from YouTube and scraping lyrics from public websites.

The organization has also launched a website to its cause, which features the headline, “The biggest theft in music history.”

“We are excited about what responsible AI can do for music, but innovation can’t be built on stolen goods,” Koda CEO Gorm Arildsen said in a statement. “Suno has taken our members’ creative work and fed it into their machines without consent, transparency or remuneration. That is theft – and it threatens the future of music.”

The case adds another layer of pressure to Suno, which is simultaneously navigating lawsuits from major record labels in the US and negotiating potential licensing settlements. Despite these legal headwinds, Suno is currently seeking an additional $100 million in funding and pushing for a $2 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg. The company reportedly generates more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue.

Meanwhile, industry sentiment has begun to split. While some AI companies remain locked in legal disputes, others, like rival platform Udio, are making deals. Udio recently reached a landmark agreement with Universal Music Group that will allow it to train models on licensed music and launch a new AI music product in 2026.

A recent economic study commissioned by Koda and IFPI Denmark underscores the stakes. Without regulatory intervention, the analysis projects the Danish music industry could lose nearly 7 billion kroner ($680 million USD) in revenue by 2030 due to unlicensed AI-generated music.