Suno has acquired Songkick: What it means for Artists
Controversial AI music platform Suno acquired Songkick as part of its new deal with Warner Music Group. But why would an AI music creation tool want to own a struggling concert listing service?
Since acquiring Songkick in 2017 WMG has been unable to grow the platform. In 2024, when selling off other content and media assets, WMG failed to find a buyer for Songkick.
In 2018, Songkick reported a reach of 150 million. Now it claims 15 million follow artists using its service.
As Songkick struggled, Bandsintown blew passed it. 100 million registered fans and partnerships with Spotify, YouTube, Apple, Shazam, and Google give Bandsintown a monthly reach of more than 4 billion.
All this led many to ask why Suno would want to acquire Songkick, or as CMU‘s Chris Cook wrote “take Songkick off Warner’s hands.” After all, most Suno creators have no intention of ever performing their AI generated music live.
Suno’s Plans For Songkick
“The combination of Suno and Songkick will create new potential to deepen the artist-fan connection.” the AI music platform said in a statement. “The combination of Suno and Songkick will create new potential to deepen the artist-fan connection.”
But how? The answer lies in Songkick’s data and how Suno can use it.
“Suno is buying an additional layer of actionable fan insights,” wrote MBW‘s Murray Stassen. “The platform now possesses behavioral data for millions of users spanning the entire fan journey: what music people want to create, which artists inspire their ideas, and crucially; which live shows they’re tracking and planning to attend.”
Murray speculates that Suno could also make part of yet another “Superfan app.” If true, Sunos joins the long list of music platforms telling artists they can’t pay more, but will help them make money in other ways – like selling tickets and merch.
At minimum, alongside the song and artist data that Suno ingests, Songkick adds fan behaviors which AI will be used to generate music. “Suno users are not just consuming content,” said MIDiA’s Mark Mulligan, “they might be trying to co-create within the musical universe of artists they admire.”
Should Artist’s Trust Suno With Their Fan Data?
Most music platforms collect and use fan data. A handful, like Bandsintown, also give Artists direct access to those fans.
Most music platforms use that data to improve the user experience, as Spotify does with personalized playlists. Using data to create songs that compete with the artists themselves is something entirely different.
Should artist’s trust Suno with all that fan data?
With its new deal WMG believes it has created guardrails that protect its artists. Other creators will not be so fortunate.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) last year filed a lawsuit accusing Suno and peer Udio of widespread copyright infringement. It claims that Suno trained its AI on copyrighted sound recordings without permission, and that its output undercuts human artists.
Suno’s unlicensed copying “sets back the promise of genuinely innovative AI for us all,” said the RIAA.
The UK songwriter trade group Ivors Academy was more blunt. It issued a sharp public warning saying Suno was “stealing the work, art and livelihoods of lyricists, songwriters and composers.”
Bruce Houghton
