Photo Credit: Human Artistry Campaign
Disrupting the UBS AI in Entertainment Summit in Santa Monica this week was the Human Artistry Campaign, who contracted a plane to circle over Santa Monica with the words “Say No To Suno.” Trucks in the city carried multiple mobile billboards with the same sentiment.
On Wednesday, the exclusive, invite-only UBS AI in Entertainment Summit took place at Shutters on the Beach Hotel in Santa Monica. And circling above was a plane carrying a banner that read, “SAY NO TO SUNO.” The protest—which fell on the same day that Suno announced a $5.4 billion valuation—was sponsored by the artist rights coalition, Human Artistry Campaign.
The aerial banner was accompanied below by trucks on the road carrying multiple mobile billboards. These also read “Say No to Suno!” as well as, “$5 billion for Mikey. Nothing for artists.”
The Trichordist indicated in its coverage of the protest that two planes flew overhead, but Digital Music News was only able to confirm one plane in time for publication. An he image showing two planes with oversized banners has not been confirmed by the Human Artistry Campaign to be legitimate.
(Indeed, it looks like The Trichordist’s David Lowery is now distributing AI-generated images of two large planes to protest AI-generated music, but we’ll leave that irony for another post. Guess the Music Artistry Campaign needed a bigger plane — or planes — to hammer home the point, but hey.)
Photo Credit: Human Artistry Campaign
It’s notable that Suno CEO Mikey Shulman was among the speakers at the summit. The company just completed a Series D funding round that raised over $400 million, informing its new $5.4 billion post-money valuation.
Of course, “Say No To Suno” isn’t a new slogan. You may remember it as the title of an open letter published online in February and signed by a coalition of artist representatives, including The Trichordist’s David Lowery.
While not explicitly a Human Artistry Campaign initiative, that letter branded Suno as a “smash and grab” platform built on unauthorized AI models trained on human artists’ work, “hijacking” the world’s “entire treasure-trove of music” and “flooding platforms with AI slop.”
Now, the message is being used to protest Suno during a landmark moment for the company, which to date still only has one confirmed music business licensing partner in Warner Music Group. Shulman said during the company’s funding announcement that Suno would, “in the coming months,” begin rolling out its “first music model developed in partnership with the music industry.”
Meanwhile, Suno continues to be sued by various parties across the music industry, including Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, performing rights organizations like Koda (Denmark) and GEMA (Germany), and independent artists.
