--- title: "Hackers Expose How AI Music App Suno Stole Decades Worth of Copyrighted Music" description: "A hack found that Suno, the AI music generator, scraped millions of copyrighted works from across the web to feed its AI model." date: "2026-07-17" modified: "2026-07-17" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/hacker-ai-music-suno-copyright" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai music" - "copyright" --- # Hackers Expose How AI Music App Suno Stole Decades Worth of Copyrighted Music ![A colorful photo illustration featuring a smashed vinyl record.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Shutterstock* A hack revealed in detail how AI music generating app Suno scraped millions of songs, likely including copyrighted ones, from across the web to feed into its AI model, [*404 Media* reports](). [Suno](), which is currently embroiled in multiple ongoing copyright lawsuits, has [already admitted]() in response to legal action that it used "essentially all music files of reasonable quality that are accessible on the open internet" to train its music-generating AI. According to *404*, the hack shed light on *how* that copyrighted music was obtained and funneled into datasets, with Suno pulling music and lyrics from sites including YouTube Music, Genius, and Deezer, in addition to stock music libraries like Jamendo, Freesound, Pond5, and the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP). Source code obtained by the hacker also pointed to the staggering scale at which Suno has swallowed up music from across the web. For instance, one file, titled "youtube\_music," contained "2,013,545 music clips," while another file noted that Suno's AI datasets held "113,879 hours of youtube\_music." Altogether, the file appears to host hundreds of thousands of hours of music. The hacker, who goes by the pseudonym ellie.191, also claimed to *404* that they'd also been able to view sensitive Suno user data, including Stripe payment information. In a statement, Suno told *404* that "as we have stated in public filings and disclosures, Suno's AI models have been trained on publicly available music files and related metadata accessible on third-party websites on the open Internet." The company also insisted that its "goal has always been to help people create original new music, not replicate someone else's." That's despite tests extensively [showing]() how Suno can easily replicate published music, including the work of well-known artists. **More on Suno:** *[CEO of Song-Generating AI App Says People “Don’t Enjoy” Making Music With Instruments]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()