Independent music publisher Round Hill Music has filed a federal lawsuit against AI companies Suno and Anthropic, alleging they unlawfully used hundreds of songs from its catalog to train their artificial intelligence models without authorization. The California-based complaint specifically targets what Round Hill characterizes as illegal data scraping of its extensive music collection, which includes well-known tracks like Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and the Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris.” The publisher initially identified 500 songs in the filing but indicated the complaint would be amended to include at least 10,000 additional compositions allegedly taken without consent.
Round Hill is seeking damages potentially reaching $1 billion for the alleged copyright violations. The company’s leadership emphasized that their objection is not to artificial intelligence development itself, but rather to the practice of building profitable ventures on creative works without compensating the original creators or rights holders. Round Hill has demanded a jury trial rather than pursuing settlement negotiations, distinguishing its approach from other music industry players who have reached licensing agreements with the AI firms.
This lawsuit represents the latest legal challenge against both companies from the music publishing sector. Suno has previously faced suits from the three major record labels, though it settled with Warner Music Group last year and recently signed a licensing deal with BMG. Anthropic itself has been targeted in separate litigation by BMG for allegedly using recordings to train its models without proper authorization.
Originally reported by Variety →
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