Koda sues U.S. tech company Suno for stealing Danish artists’ music

The Danish rights organization Koda is suing the major U.S.-based AI music service Suno for stealing music from Danish artists. This includes tracks such as “Barbie Girl” by Aqua, “Final Song” by MØ, ”A Beautiful Life” by Christopher, “Sleeping My Day Away” by D-A-D, “Move Your Feet” by Junior Senior, and “Sunshine Reggae” by Laid Back. In all cases, Koda has concrete evidence that the copyright of each work has been infringed. This marks the first time a Danish rights organization has filed a lawsuit against an AI service.

With just a few clicks and simple prompts, Suno can generate full music tracks that sound like songs most of us already know. But this is only possible because Suno has deliberately exploited and copied Danish artists’ songs - without permission and without payment.

That is the position of Koda, which has filed a lawsuit on behalf of its members against the U.S. tech company for copyright infringement.

In the lawsuit, Koda presents concrete evidence that Suno has stolen, among others, “Barbie Girl” by Aqua, “Final Song” by MØ, “Sleeping My Day Away” by D-A-D, “Move Your Feet” by Junior Senior, and “Sunshine Reggae” by Laid Back. None of the songwriters behind these tracks were asked for permission or have received any payment from the U.S. tech company.

This is the greatest music theft in history

- Gorm Arildsen, CEO of Koda

Se alt om Kodas søgsmål mod Suno

According to Koda’s CEO, Gorm Arildsen, the lawsuit highlights a fundamental conflict between how AI is being misused by certain services and the respect for artists’ copyright.

“Artificial intelligence has great potential and can serve as an inspiring and creative tool. But in this case, a U.S. tech company has knowingly stolen Denmark’s musical heritage and is now using it to build its own competing business. This is not innovation - it is the biggest music theft in history. It is illegal, and it threatens the economy of Danish music and our shared culture,” says Gorm Arildsen.

Legal action is not enough - political action is needed

In a new report published by Koda together with IFPI Denmark, it is estimated that AI-generated music like that produced by Suno will, within a few years, consume large parts of the economy that makes it possible to create new Danish music. If the current development in AI continues, Danish music faces a historic revenue loss of 28 percent by 2030.

Therefore, the problem cannot be solved through a lawsuit alone. Political action is needed, stresses Koda’s Legal and Policy Director, Nicky Trebbien.

“It is completely unacceptable that it takes a lawsuit to make Suno and similar AI services pay for the music they use. If we want to continue having talented artists creating new Danish music in the future, we must protect our music industry and not leave it to cynical tech companies and their algorithms to shape and tell our story,” says Nicky Trebbien.

Clear message to policymakers

“There is an urgent need for political action to ensure that AI music services develop responsibly across the board. We need proper and responsible frameworks, fair payment to artists, and legislation that makes it crystal clear: when you use music to train artificial intelligence and offer an AI service on the market, you must pay for it,” says Nicky Trebbien

D-A-D frontman: ”It's our blood, sweat and taers

Jesper Binzer, frontman of D-A-D and one of the songwriters behind “Sleeping My Day Away,” agrees that the situation is alarming.

“We shouldn’t fear new technology, but here Suno has straight up taken songs that belong to others and fed them into their machine. In our case, ‘Sleeping My Day Away.’ It’s insane. It’s our talent inside those machines. Suno has literally taken our talent. It’s blood, sweat, and tears,” says Jesper Binzer.

Last year, Suno was valued at $500 million - over DKK 3.18 billion. Suno is currently raising additional investments and is expected to reach a valuation of $2 billion, equivalent to nearly DKK 13 billion. A business that, according to Koda, is built on the unlawful use of copyright-protected music.