Suno snatched millions of songs from YouTube, Genius, and Deezer
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- Suno scraped 2,013,545 YouTube Music clips and vast amounts of audio from Deezer, Genius, and other platforms, according to leaked internal files detailing data collection methods.
- Suno used third-party firm Bright Data to bypass YouTube’s protections and specifically targeted a cappella tracks for vocal-only training data, as shown in exposed 2023–2024 source code.
- RIAA filed a lawsuit alleging Suno unlawfully circumvented YouTube’s copyright systems, with Suno admitting it trained on copyrighted material under fair use claims.
- Hacker 'ellie.191' leaked Suno’s source code and customer data, including emails, phone numbers, and Stripe payment details, which Suno said did not include full credit card numbers.
- Suno claimed the breach involved outdated code and determined individual notifications were unnecessary under privacy laws, despite confirming awareness of the incident in November 2025.
Why it matters: Musicians and rights holders now have direct evidence supporting claims that Suno used protected content without permission, strengthening legal challenges and raising stakes for AI firms relying on contested fair use interpretations. The exposure of scraping scale and methods undercuts Suno’s opacity around training data.
