I played the flute in elementary and middle school, but I hated it and chose the yearbook subject as an elective in high school.
In other words, my background in music is limited. And that makes me at least theoretically a good match for AI music creation app Suno.
By now, we’re well-versed in using written and verbal prompts to tell generative AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude to create the text, images, and even videos we want. But tools for generating audio—and specifically music—are more limited. Suno hopes to fill that gap.
The AI startup’s mission is to help anyone make music, regardless of experience, without the need for an instrument.
Suno released its iOS app in July. A blog post announcement of the launch said an Android app is coming soon, along with a global rollout and “lots of fun updates.”
The app allows you to create songs from lyrics, but also from uploaded audio. You can also listen to songs created by other users.
The songs Suno made for me
Once you download the app and log in with a phone number or email address, the app will generate a username. Mine was PerplexedHiHat975, but you can edit it if you want. And then it’s time to get racing. Clicking on the pink/purple tab at the bottom that says “Create” will take you to a prompt window where you can type (or say) your request. You have a maximum of 200 characters.
There’s a milestone coming up in my household, so my first request was for “a sad country song about my son going to high school.”
When I clicked ‘Create’ the app said, ‘Your groove is on the way.’ It took about 30 seconds for the song to finish.
The result, Time Slips Away, featured a serious male vocalist who eerily began with, “Pieces of Legos, sprawled out on the floor,” which describes my house to a T. How did Suno know that?? You can listen to the track here here.
It’s also almost the end of summer vacation, which means I don’t have to pay a fortune for camp anymore, and that’s something to celebrate. Next, I asked for “an 80s pop song that’s also a party song.”
I’m not sure if it was as cheerful as I had hoped, but the result, Glowing in the nighthonestly sounds like something Jennifer Lopez would record right now. (And you have the ability to play around with your prompt to refine your results.)
To cheer myself up a bit, I asked for “a 90s R&B song about single moms overcoming their challenges.”
It wasn’t quite what I would consider ’90s R&B, but the song, Rise abovewas undeniably catchy and I found myself singing the chorus in my head all day.
Protecting copyrights
Suno says that copyrighted works are blocked and that all inputs with vocals remain private and unsearchable. To test it out, I tried requesting songs in the style of the Beatles about doughnuts and in the style of Adele about horses, but they were rejected. However, they didn’t count toward my song limit.
The free account allows you to generate 10 songs per day. Paid plans range from $10 per month, which allows you to generate 500 songs, to $289 per year, which gives you access to 2,000 songs per month.
The startup also has partner with technology giant Microsoft to integrate its music creation technology into the Copilot chatbot.
Suno reported in July that it had 12 million users.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based startup was founded in 2022 by four former employees of AI data company Kensho Technologies, which was acquired by financial data and analytics company S&P Global in 2018: Mikey Shulman, former head of machine learning; Keenan Freyberg, former head of strategic initiatives; Georg Kucsko, former head of AI research; and Martin Camacho, former chief architect.
Suno did not respond to a request for comment.
The startup announced in May that it had raised $125 million.
Backers include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Matrix and Founder Collective, as well as former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and former Apple executive Daniel Gross.
In a blog post In May, Shulman, who serves as CEO, said the proceeds will go toward product development and hiring.
This is one of a series of short profiles of AI startups, to help you get a handle on the landscape of current AI activity. For more on AI, see our AI Atlas hub with product reviews, news, tips and explanations.
