AI Music's Legal Battles Echo Player Piano Copyright Disputes from 1908

By late February, Suno, an AI music firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, reported an impressive $300 million in annual recurring revenue and attracted two million subscribers. The company’s technology creates music from user prompts, introducing features such as Suno Studio in September and Voices in March. According to CEO Mikey Shulman's blog post from November 2025, over 100 million users have accessed the free version. Legal challenges surrounding fair use involve "tens of millions of recordings," with Warner Music Group reaching a settlement in November, while disputes continue with Universal Music Group and Sony. The Music Artists Coalition, featuring members like Don Henley and Meghan Trainor, calls for transparency and fair compensation. Historical comparisons can be drawn with player pianos, which faced copyright issues in the early 1900s. Recent studies indicate that listeners often cannot tell the difference between AI-generated and human-created music.