Jason Isbell, David Lowery and other musicians are suing Suno over claims that the AI music platform uses artists’ identities including their names, voices, likenesses and distinctive styles, without permission.

In this episode of Shmoozic Biz, copyright litigator Bob Shore joins music attorneys Bill Hochberg and Sami Kazi to unpack the case, which takes a different route from the growing number of AI copyright lawsuits. Instead of focusing on copyright infringement, the plaintiffs rely on the right of publicity, the right to control commercial use of a person’s identity.

The key legal question: can the case survive copyright preemption, or will a court rule that the claims are really about copyrighted songs and recordings?

We also discuss the industry implications: what this case could mean for record labels, music publishers, artists, managers, AI developers, voice-cloning tools and future licensing negotiations around generative AI music.

Chapters:

00:00 – Intro & Why This AI Lawsuit is Different
01:30 – Meet the Panel
02:30 – Who are Jason Isbell and David Lowery?
04:02 – "The Borg": Writing Complaints for the Press vs. Judges
07:22 – Breaking Down the CBS News Coverage & Testing Suno
11:23 – What is Copyright Preemption?
15:14 – Artist Identity & Style vs. Derivative Works
17:53 – The Advertising Exception: Mary J. Blige & Maloney v. T3 Media
23:50 – Legal Precedent: The Romantics vs. No Doubt (Video Game Cases)
24:39 – Musical Interlude: "What I Like About You" (Lawyer Edition)
28:20 – Suno’s AI Model & The 3 Arguments to Avoid Preemption
33:45 – Major Label Licensing & What This Means for the Music Biz
36:25 – David Lowery, Cracker’s "Low" Video & Final Thoughts

Key Topics: Suno AI, Jason Isbell, David Lowery, copyright preemption, right of publicity, artist likeness rights, AI music training, voice cloning, soundalike recordings, music licensing and entertainment law.

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Bill Hochberg is a music and media lawyer at Raines Feldman Littrell LLP and he writes regularly in Forbes and other top publications on the business and law of music.

Our musical theme is "8 Church Birds" by billeeto. https://tinyurl.com/billeeto

DISCLAIMER: This program and the associated written materials are provided for informational purposes only and are not intended, and must not be taken, as legal advice on any particular set of facts or circumstances.