Suno Inks ‘Strategic Partnership’ With Believe

Suno and French music giant Believe have signed a strategic partnership, marking the third music company partnership for the AI music platform. As part of the agreement, music from participating Believe and TuneCore artists and labels will be included in the new music models that Suno is creating “in partnership with the music industry,” according to a press release. The announcement stresses that artists and labels can choose to “opt-in,” a common term used to describe the choice to participate in AI model training, for new music products that Believe and Suno will work on in tandem.

The deal could also lead to a major new pipeline of music for Believe and TuneCore. According to the deal, any AI songs created in the forthcoming Suno models that are trained on the French company’s participating songs will now be eligible to distribute through Believe and TuneCore. The news follows a policy Believe posted in April which barred the distribution of AI-generated tracks created partly or fully via “pirate studios.” At the time, music from Suno’s then-current models was part of the material blocked from Believe platforms.

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The press release states that Believe and TuneCore talent that take part in this partnership “will be compensated for their music and their rights will be protected,” and a close source to the matter tells Billboard this compensation will take the form of a revenue share.

Believe joins BMG and Warner Music Group in choosing to work with Suno, which has been sued by several music companies for copyright infringement in the AI training process. This includes a blockbuster copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Universal Music Group, Sony Music and WMG in June 2024. WMG opted at the end of 2025 to make peace with Suno, signing a partnership agreement that ended their involvement in the majors’ lawsuit. UMG and Sony are still pursuing these charges.

In the last month, Suno was hit by a number of new lawsuits from the music establishment. This includes a class action lawsuit led by country star Jason Isbell which claimed that Suno designed its AI music generator to evoke artists’ identifying characteristics. Another stemmed from a Mexican label, Gerencia 360 Music, which claimed that Suno’s AI models were trained on regional Mexican hits from their catalog to generate Spanish-language songs and in August, Suno and Anthropic were hit with lawsuits from Round Hill Music over accusations that the AI companies infringed tens of thousands of songs to train their models — and might owe more than $1 billion in damages.

“For 20 years, we have been helping artists and labels reach their full potential, and increasingly that means working with new technology like AI, while ensuring that responsible innovation translates into greater opportunities and value-generation for artists,” says Denis Ladegaillerie, founder and CEO of Believe. “The partnership we worked on with Suno for Believe and TuneCore unlocks powerful tools for all artists and labels. It now gives them a meaningful choice over how they can participate, protect their rights and enables them to share the value created by innovative responsible AI technologies.”

“We have always shared a common goal with Believe to support independent artists at all stages of their careers. This partnership will significantly expand opportunities for independent artists, giving them access to creative tools, new paths to distribute their music through TuneCore, and more exposure”, says Mikey Shulman, CEO of Suno. “We’ve been laying the foundation for the next generation of Suno, strengthening our safeguards, expanding our industry partnerships, and learning from artists testing our upcoming music models. We’re thrilled to work with Believe on innovative product experiences that will give their artists new ways to earn and build even deeper connections with their fans.”