Do you own your Suno or Udio songs?
Owning a song and having a copyright in it are not the same thing. Here is the difference, as it stands in September 2026.
By The Generated Worlds editors · Published
On a paid Suno plan, Suno assigns you its rights in what you generate and lets you use it commercially; free-plan songs are for personal use only, and Suno does not promise that any copyright exists. In the US, purely AI-generated material is not protected by copyright — prompts alone are not enough — but lyrics you wrote and meaningful human changes can be. Udio settled with Universal and Warner in 2025 and no longer lets new songs be downloaded. This is general information, not legal advice.
Two different questions get mixed up here. One is contractual: what the AI company lets you do with what it generated. The other is legal: whether anyone, you included, has a copyright in it at all. Your terms can say you own a song that the law says nobody can copyright.
This is general information checked on 26 September 2026, not legal advice. If a release matters to you commercially, ask a lawyer where you live.
Suno: what the terms give you
- Paid plans (Pro, Premier): Suno assigns you its right, title and interest in the output, and commercial use is allowed for songs downloaded within your plan's download allowance.
- Free plan: songs are for lawful, personal, non-commercial use.
- Suno states it makes no promise that a copyright will exist in any output, and it may identify songs as made on Suno.
- Warner settled with Suno in November 2025 and licensed the newer models; Universal and Sony filed a new lawsuit against Suno on 18 September 2026.
Udio: what changed
Udio settled with Universal in October 2025 and with Warner in November 2025, and switched off downloads of new songs, keeping them inside its own platform. What rights remain in songs downloaded before the change is not settled publicly; check your own account's terms.
What the law protects
The US Copyright Office's January 2025 report says purely AI-generated material is not protected and that prompts alone do not give enough human control. Human-authored parts — lyrics you wrote, arrangement, meaningful editing — can be. The Supreme Court declined to hear Thaler v. Perlmutter in March 2026, so the human-authorship requirement stands. In practice: register what you wrote, and disclose what the AI made.
On Generated Worlds
You stay the publisher of your album, and Generated Worlds does not claim ownership of it. You are responsible for having the right to publish it — which, for Suno songs, means a paid plan — and for disclosing that it is AI-made.
Common questions
Can I use Suno songs commercially?
Yes, if you made and downloaded them on a paid plan, within its download allowance. Free-plan songs are personal, non-commercial use only.
Can AI-generated music be copyrighted?
Not the purely AI-generated parts, according to the US Copyright Office. Lyrics you wrote and substantial human changes can be protected.
Can I still download Udio songs?
Not new ones. Udio disabled downloads after its 2025 settlements and keeps new songs inside its own platform.
Keep reading
Publish your album here
Opening a studio takes a minute and costs nothing. Create a music album, upload the tracks in order, and every track gets synced lyrics on screen automatically. You choose which tracks are free; you keep 80% of net revenue from the ones listeners pay for, plus tips.