Suno Scraps Mary J. Blige Ad After Making It Seem Singer Endorsed the AI Music Platform
"We entered into a business deal with someone who presented themselves as Ms. Blige’s official representative," Suno said, confirming the company pulled the ad after company "learned this was not the case."
Generative AI music platform Suno has withdrawn a controversial advertisement featuring Mary J. Blige after discovering that her approval for the ad had not been obtained. A Suno spokesperson disclosed to Billboard on Thursday (Sept. 3) that they entered into a business agreement with an entity presenting themselves as Blige's authorized representative.
The spokesperson added, "Upon realizing that this was not the situation and that Ms. Blige was uncomfortable, we ended the advertising campaign." Suno emphasized that Blige, an esteemed figure admired by many, "continues to innovate" and that was the reason behind their decision to collaborate with her. Billboard has contacted Blige's representatives for further comment.
The controversy arose after the nine-time Grammy winner appeared in a Suno video displaying her listening while a supposed producer showcased the AI system's features. In the August-posted clip, she is heard saying, "I just process, because I don't know what the hell y'all talking about. So I like to learn what you talking about.
Now, it's like, 'Ah, OK, this is pretty dope,' if we could play with it more and learn more of everything else going on. It's pretty dope." This endorsement led to swift criticism from fans and articles questioning her decision to seemingly promote Suno, an industry-leading company currently at the center of controversy.
In just three days, Billboard has reported on three separate lawsuits against Suno over alleged breaches of artist rights. Jason Isbell filed a class action lawsuit on the last day of August, alleging that Suno violated artists' name, image, and likeness rights. Additionally, Gerencia 360 Music recently filed a legal complaint claiming that Suno illegally utilized copyrighted music to train its AI model.
Suno maintains, however, that their training process is protected by copyright law's fair use principle, which permits unlicensed works to be reused for transformative purposes.
Written by urgent.news from Billboard's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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