AI Music Company Suno’s New “Incubator” Program is Especially Evil
AI music company Suno has been on the bleeding edge of some of the most dubious AI music activity since its inception, giving anyone the ability to make a song in a matter of seconds by aggregating data stolen from actual musicians and copyright holders, which is the reason the company is currently being sued by multiple major labels and independent artists. Everything they’re doing is clearly illegal. But under the idea that you can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs, Suno’s soldiering forward.
Suno’s stupid ads complaining about how “hard” it is to make and learn music, and how “anyone” can now become a musician with their tech are especially galling. The CEO Mikey Shulman infamously said recently, “It’s not really enjoyable to make music now… it takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of practice, you have to get really good at an instrument or really good at a piece of production software. I think the majority of people don’t enjoy the majority of time they spend making music.”
Such a shortsighted take on not just music and on being a musician, but on life in general.
AI musicians and AI music companies, and AI in general with its intrusive data centers have become extremely unpopular with the general public, especially with younger people who are seeing their futures mortgaged via the technology. But the hubristic notions of companies like Suno make them believe it’s all simply a public relations issue. They just need to signal more properly, and then the public will be on board.
It’s under this false pretense that Suno has just launched perhaps its most sinister campaign yet that is attempting to exploit independent and up-and-coming artists, and tug at the heartstrings of the independent music community. They’re doing it through a so-called incubator program called “Spark.”
Announced on Thursday (6-25), the company says,
“Making it as an independent artist isn’t easy. Every day, we meet talented artists with great ideas, unique perspectives, and a clear vision for their music, but who may not have the resources or connections to take the next step. At Suno, we want to help create a future where more artists have the opportunity to develop their craft, find their audience, and build sustainable creative careers. That’s why we’re launching Spark, a new incubator program designed to help independent artists bring their music projects to life through grants, mentorship, and dedicated marketing support.”
But of course, all of this is going on within the AI-generated music universe, encouraging these independent artists to utilize the company’s AI tools to write and develop songs.
The fact that the company thinks they can get away with selling the public on the idea that they’re here to support the very independent artists their technology is undercutting is quite hilarious. But the thing is, there are many independent artists out there with big dreams that are so desperate for any support or opportunity, they will take Suno’s dirty money and dubious “mentorship” in a heartbeat, and then turn around and give testimonials about how much Suno helped them and their career, while the whole time they’re eroding the entire musical ecosystem for themselves and everyone else.
“Spark” really is a double dose of twisted evil by Suno, almost so much so that you have to tip your hat to them. But most artists with any level of scruples will see right through this new program, and refuse Suno’s “help” built from bilking actual artists and their catalogs with no credit or recourse.
The news comes as Suno recently announced a new $400 million line in funding, and a $5.4 billion total market valuation. That doesn’t sound very “independent.”
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June 25, 2026 @ 6:38 pm
That’s such a bizarre comment from their CEO.
Any honest writer or musician I know is so in love with the process that to shorcut it would be removing the little joy there is to be had from making a living in music. Weird take from him.
June 25, 2026 @ 6:57 pm
AI is for people with zero talent, who are too lazy to learn a craft, which not only builds character but soothes the soul and makes life worthwhile. The creative journey is often the greatest reward. These useless pricks who are making bank on the backs of real creatives are parasites and thieves. There has been a lot of talk lately about the coming bursting of the AI Bubble, that it will be worse than the dot.com bust. Couldn’t happen to a bigger group of assholes.
June 26, 2026 @ 6:57 am
The AI burst is coming and it’s going to impact most of the stock market. Your 401k is propped up by companies invested heavily in AI and the infrastructure around it.
June 26, 2026 @ 10:04 am
I’m with Cory Doctorow on this. It’s going to burst either way, I would rather it burst tomorrow at 1.4 Trillion than a year from now when it is 2 Trillion.
It sucks for you and I and anyone else with money in the market, but much like 2008 moronic policies by both Dems and Repub’s, combined with unfettered corporate greed have put us in this spot.
It’s sort of like setting a broken bone. It’s gonna hurt either way, but the longer you wait and if the bone starts to heal, the pain is gonna be a lot worse than just taking care of it right away.
June 26, 2026 @ 12:14 pm
Yeah I agree. I fear that however it crashes, it’s gonna be the corporations and large stockholders will cash out first and leave everyone else holding the bag.
June 25, 2026 @ 7:05 pm
I hope the CEO is soon visited by the very angry ghost of Alasdair MacIntyre, the philosopher who saw it all coming and went deep on why this is so wrong.
June 25, 2026 @ 7:16 pm
AI is for retards.
June 25, 2026 @ 8:03 pm
Welp, Hell froze over. I agree with a comment you posted.
“May you live in interesting times…”
June 26, 2026 @ 4:44 am
Scorching hot take there, Jimbo.
June 26, 2026 @ 6:50 am
I will occasionally comment on Suno related posts on Facebook. The people on there who defend the use of Suno-created music really are a special kind of stupid and delusional. The irony is never lost on me that the posts are also created with AI. (Suddenly now every talentless dirtbag loser, boomer mom with an IQ of 80, and overweight IT proffesional can arrange their feelings in a thousand word paragraph with bullet points) Seeing people defend AI-created songs as valid is so disheartening and frustrating. No it’s not like synthesizers in the 80’s, or digital modeling effects for guitars. AI music isn’t stealing market share from real artists so much as as it’s giving the average consumer an outlet for their delusion. No one wants to hear your shitty poem.
I’m constantly shocked at how much of their own brains people are willing to give away to AI to create emails and construct their thoughts. Just the other day a friend in his early 30’s said he has to use AI so he can read a book, otherwise he’d never finish it.
June 25, 2026 @ 10:48 pm
I don’t like this whole A. I. stuff, even though I know very little about it. It’s just something that seems not in line with many things I reason are part of why I like music and lyrics and songs. I had a short back-and-forth with somebody about A. I. in music as a result of one of my attempts to “do something” with my attempts at lyric writing. I rearranged a bit of that e-mail conversation to now comment the following here:
I want real, I want human intelligence, I want something I can’t describe in words but see and hear when I see and hear a musician. I reason it’s part of the exact reason I have tried to write lyrics, and it’s exactly the feeling I experienced when coming across certain music and musicians about two years ago. I want pure, I want real, I want truth, I want raw, I want what is hard to describe but what one might see, hear, and/or feel.
Once in a while A. I. can perhaps get the egg,
but never the goose
It can’t contain what’s floating loose
It can’t catch what you can’t see
It can’t match what’s (the) key
I just watched, and listened to, an acoustic version of Ty Stone playing “Diamond”
It’s a video that can be seen on YouTube that I have previously also mentioned
It’s shot in the dark,
but I see something glistening
It’s that specific thing that keeps me watching and listening
Its likely recorded on a just phone,
and you can’t even see his face,
but I feel there’s nothing, or no one, that can take his place
June 27, 2026 @ 9:54 am
poem comment, love it
June 27, 2026 @ 11:48 am
About that acoustic version of “Diamond” by Ty Stone,
for me, there was something missing, I couldn’t leave it alone
I felt it could perhaps use something more,
so I’ve tried to write some lyrics to a bridge,
at least I think that’s what they could be used for
I’ve tried to keep things in line with the message and theme
When you read the words “pressure” and “heat”,
I hope you’ll understand just what I mean
The lyrics could possibly be included around the 02:00 minute mark
They were written without the help of artificial intelligence like Suno,
but with the help of human intelligence and a spark
A love for music, lyrics, soul, and heart
That’s what created them, that’s what might set them apart
So, without further ado,
here are some lyrics to a possible bridge for Ty Stone’s “Diamond”,
just for you:
When you feel the heat,
When the pressure seems too much,
When you think you’re beat,
When you think you’ve lost your touch
Remember where you’ve been,
has formed who you are
Remember what you’ve seen,
has left more than a scar
June 26, 2026 @ 1:38 am
We’ve come a long way since the invention of blow-up dolls, that’s for sure.
June 26, 2026 @ 1:54 am
…what exists will be used. as long as ai thinks every country star ought to look like gerald butler on a particularly rough day – or a contemporary version of dale evans – i’m following things rather a- and bemused. something i could not say about messrs adcock, barham or matthew.
by the way, ain’t cody johnson a lot like a country character any ai would be real proud of or glad to be of assistance? but perhaps that “fall”-clip is just misleadin’…
June 26, 2026 @ 12:22 pm
Cody Johnson can actually write, play and sing.
June 26, 2026 @ 4:38 am
Great art and music comes from the heart, takes time and talent to make, and embodies the thoughts and feelings of humans.
June 26, 2026 @ 5:10 am
It takes years of hard work, practice, and dedication to become a great musician, and that’s what we love about the music our favorite artists make.
Take a Jason Eady show, for example. I love seeing him live because I know just how much work he’s put in over the years to reach that level. AI can try its best, but it’s never going to capture the human element that makes music special. It does mean we need to keep our ears open and stay on our toes so we can still tell the real thing from the manure.
Speaking of Jason, if you haven’t already, give “Tulsa Turnaround” a spin.
June 26, 2026 @ 5:33 am
“It takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of practice, you have to get really good at an instrument…”
Yes Mickey it does. Let’s just take that part of your asinine comment and break it down. Learning guitar is a good example. Almost anyone can learn to play 3 chords. Its a matter of practicing finger placement. But what can you do with those chords? Beginners strum them in a very simplistic manner and if you dont progress you end up sounding tedious and no one wants to listen to you. Learning to play in time musically is a hurdle. Learning different rhythms is also a hurdle.Learning the theory behind chords and musical keys and relationships between triads , chords, scales and note intervals takes serious effort and devotion. Learning to play chords in other positions on the neck, playing arpeggios and hammer- ons and slides, bends, and lead lines all require years of practice and time. And if you want people to listen to you and you want to be an artist, this is the process. The journey isn’t swift and you will need to earn those techniques by sheer repetition and sweat. Nothings truly free in life and for those who understand this, it makes the journey as important as the payoff.
This idea that we can tell the AI app to write us a song about _____ and then voila we can have a finished piece and then magically we are now Kris Kristofferson or using the guitar analogy, overnight we are equal to Tommy Emmanuel is ABSURD. Music is a process of learning, absorbing, studying, practicing , trial and error, perspiration and inspiration. The reward can be intoxicating and wonderful for those who seek it but the reality is that not everyone can do it. This is why we pay money to those who can, because we understand how difficult it is, we get that artistic talent isn’t dealt out equally among humans and we intuitively value great musical art when we witness it firsthand. Any notion that we can shortcut or circumvent all that and be considered in any way as equal to the great musicians and songwriters is laughably insane. Screw AI.
June 26, 2026 @ 12:24 pm
Well said, Kevin.
June 26, 2026 @ 6:04 am
I see a lot of whining going on but wonder how much of it was done on mobile phones. Get over it, AI is here to stay. It is the same as history repeating itself and ten years from now all these complainers will be first in line to praise the technology.
June 26, 2026 @ 7:22 am
Mobile phones never threatened to end human work, nor did they pose an existential threat to human existence—both things the proprietors of AI have asserted could be the outcome of this technology.
June 26, 2026 @ 8:21 am
Awful comment Ernest. Clearly you dont even understand that there’s an enormous unbreachable gulf between talented musicians and artists and a computer that’s creating everything from algorithms. ACTUAL undeniable god- given talent via a human vs a machine that simply mimics and plagiarizes what has already been created.
June 26, 2026 @ 10:10 am
I don’t recall public polling showing a strong majority of Americans hated mobile phones.
Did they have annoyances with the hardware/technology? Sure.
But most people rapidly adopted it.
That isn’t really the case with AI. Kids are booing the shit out of it at commencement speeches. Rural Americans hate it for the Data Center’s being pushed at them that will pollute their water and raise their utility rates. Anyone in the arts (with actual talent) hates it as it is obvious ploy to replace them.
But hey man, keep convincing yourself that vibe coded app you made or AI slop song is gonna make you rich!
June 26, 2026 @ 12:25 pm
I’ve never seen a topic that has forced people on the Left and Right together on an issue like AI. Conversely I hear people praising AI software constantly. I’ve never seen anything where one segment of the population is realizing the environmental and economic cost of AI while another segment is competely oblivious to it. I don’t know why millions aren’t out in the street with pitchforks right now. NPC Republicans are welcoming Big Brother with open arms and NPC Democrats are acting like climate change and environmentalism were just fake pet causes now.
June 26, 2026 @ 5:04 pm
The people praising it are doing so for a couple different reasons IMO.
1. They never REALLY cared about the quality of their work – be it even as simple as writing an email – so AI actually does help them by taking a task they didn’t care about and automating it. It’s like school all over, you have folks that try and care about their work and those that are fine with the “C’s get degrees” mentality and AI will allow you to get C’s on certain tasks while doing no work.
2. There is always a segment of the population – for whatever reason – that buys into “new” tech (even though LLM’s are glorified word guessers) even though most of the population is like “dumb”. Remember Google Glass and “Glass-Holes”?
3. Don’t discount the cult of personality about Silicon Valley. Elon’s social media site cranks out CSAM on request and you still have folks defending him as some kind of deity. There seems to be a vocal contingent who is like “oh no, Sam Altman wouldn’t be wrong!”. Same for the folks who are like “but look at all these big businesses investing in it, they can’t be wrong!?!”. Don’t remind them the “smartest” guys in finance led to the ’08 meltdown…
4. Republicans welcoming Big Brother are only doing so because Trump hasn’t told them told them not to embrace it. Much like how Liberals cheered the Biden admin jawboning Facebook and Twitter even though the implications of that were AWFUL, lots of Republicans are just like “heh, they won’t go after me, it will be my antifa neighbor”. People are dumb.
5. Democrats have always had a weird approach to climate change IMO. They will proclaim how green they are while driving their Nissan Leaf or Chevy Spark, but ignore the environmental impacts of the minerals needed for the batteries in them. People are dumb.
I still think anyone with a hint of critical thinking skills hates AI. They hate it. Young people hate it. Old, rural people who are drinking toxic water in Texas hate it. The people embracing it are the minority and by a healthy margin in my view.
June 26, 2026 @ 12:27 pm
The talentless, the useless, the ones with no imagination, the ones who don’t possess a single creative cell in their body, love AI. In ten years the goofballs praising AI will be decrying it.
June 26, 2026 @ 6:29 am
There really isn’t a market for selling AI music to consumers. There is a market for selling subscriptions to SUNO to talentless delusional consumers who “feel” they themselves are artistic. This just looks like an iteration of that scam from the 90’s where you can pay to have your poem included in this book of other poems. I really do think this is just something to bilk money from the naive wannabe artists with no real-world music talent.
Overwhelming majority of people aren’t choosing to consume other’s AI music over real music. It’s the most passive listeners who are likely to get dooped by AI music slipping into their playlists.
June 26, 2026 @ 7:05 am
They used to cut tape then pro tools changed the game. No one cuts tape anymore. Artist will embrace or are embracing AI. Don’t let anyone fool ya
June 26, 2026 @ 7:35 am
Exactly.
June 26, 2026 @ 7:42 am
This argument is so amazingly stupid, yet I see every AI apologist making it while simultaneously and conveniently ignoring that the people utlizing AI-generated vocals and instruments are absolutely talentless hacks. We all know what happened when recording went digital – it lowered the bar for who was “good enough” to record. Technology just allows mediocracy to rise. Where someone has to pull of their part in a few takes they can now use any many takes as time and money allows. Still though…an actual artist who devoted their time and life to the craft was doing the recording.
Fast forward to 2026 and every loser in IT or sales who never had any discernable music talent, never dillengently practiced an instrument, never had anyone praise anything artistic they ever did in their first 55 years of life and now they feel they are equal to any musician or artist because they entered fucking prompts into computer software and the finished product sounds similar to a recorded track. All that happened was these people put their name on something a computer did for them because they are delusional and no one ever appreciated them the way they feel they should have been appreciated.
June 26, 2026 @ 12:32 pm
Exactly, Strait. Real artists, real talent, don’t need AI, it’s the talentless boobs who need and defend it.
Cutting tape and digital editing are far different than having a computer program create fake ‘art’ using stolen content from other creators.
June 26, 2026 @ 8:00 am
When AI can perform to three people at an open mic it will have replaced humans.
June 26, 2026 @ 8:21 am
There will always be a place for us in music. Could AI possibly write “Some Velvet Morning”? Although they do say AI hallucinates sometimes.
June 26, 2026 @ 11:02 am
In a generation or so, if this AI catches on big time, will the consumers know any better? The hip-hop craze of the 90’s joined forces with techno, and by 2010 everything sounded like the computer-generated music it was/is, and people consumed it without question.
If you’re not exposed to Some Velvet Morning, you won’t know what you’re missing out on.
And this; most people doesn’t really care what they’re listening to.
The music industry goes the same way as the movie industry. It grew too big and became too irrelevant and too arrogant. The decline is a correction.
June 27, 2026 @ 6:42 am
Counterpoint – young people hate AI overwhelmingly. The people listening to AI slop songs on YouTube and Facebook are boomers and old Gen-X’ers in my experience.
So I don’t think this is a “in a generation or so” thing. I think we know the answer to that question, which is mostly “it won’t”.
Where AI music is “having a moment” is with older folks who either can’t distinguish AI (i.e., those Stapleton AI slop YouTube pushed) OR are folks who just happily eat up the slop Big Tech feeds them.
There will always be AI music. It isn’t going away. And there will always be an audience for it, the same way even as TV dies, there is an audience for trashy Bravo reality shows.
But I really don’t see this pushback going away for millennials and younger. In fact, I would argue the current trend of young people embracing Zach Bryan, Sam Barber, Noah Kahan, etc. is due to them desperately seeking “authentic” music.
Now, you can argue if Zach Bryan and Co. are actually good, but the message seems clear. And I think that dovetails into AI. The folks washing “Drunk Bitches Scream 50 Times” on Bravo are gonna like Velvet Sundown or whatever AI band is being shared on Facebook. But don’t mistake that for the majority take. Post Malone and his auto-tune can’t sell out stadiums, but Bryan still is.
That says something to me and gives me some hope that a massive chunk of the population is like “nah, F this”.
June 26, 2026 @ 8:51 am
Check out this deep dive from YouTube musician Adam Neely. It’s an hour and a half, but a good watch if you want to know more about Suno and AI music beyond the headlines.
https://youtu.be/U8dcFhF0Dlk?is=UHC5ey-iwvIedW8W
June 26, 2026 @ 9:16 am
Ray Wylie Hubbard recently posted an AI music video to go with his recent single. Hard to know to know how to feel about that because on the one hand, the songs are still real. But on the other, when independent respected artists like him ( or Dylan, who posts a lot of Ai also) endorse any aspect of AI, it gives it as a whole lot more credence and relevance. If only we had Hunter S Thompson around.
June 26, 2026 @ 12:34 pm
It’s sad to see artists using AI to create their videos. They want people to support their creativity, but they don’t want to support those who make real videos, etc. When it wipes out their stream of income, they will be ranting and crying.
June 26, 2026 @ 1:52 pm
There is a big difference between using AI for marketing and videos vs using AI for the music itself. The problem with AI flyers, images, music videos, etc is that it is low-effort. Even though the product looks “proffesional” and on-par with everything else out there it’s just that – on par with EVERYTHING ELSE. People won’t differentiate the AI generated media from that of anyone else. That AI artwork already looks super dated and kitsch.
June 26, 2026 @ 1:36 pm
Digital recording, plugins, algorithm based this and that bullshit. Everything released in the last 30 years is just some software developer’s representation of music. We’ve been heading this way for along time. Is it worse? Yes. Will the next thing be even worse than AI? Yes. Will it stop anything? Of course not.
I despised digital and still do. Not for all the normal reasons – just because it took all the work out of it. Made it all lazy. This has always been where we were going to end up.
June 26, 2026 @ 2:19 pm
Sam,
With all due respect, the idea that digital recording that still takes skilled musicians, engineers, and producers to make, humans to perform and write, and often many days if not weeks and months to record is on the same plane as someone with absolutely no skill at all composing a sentence to put in an AI prompt that spits out a totally completed album (lyrics and music) in a matter of seconds runs a very dangerous risk of making AI seem like just another step on a slippery slope as opposed to a transformation phenomenon that could be existential to the entire industry.
June 26, 2026 @ 4:54 pm
Like I said – is this worse? Yes – but it’s all part of the same path. Drummers haven’t needed to be able to play in time for years – just warp it in later. Nail the chorus once? Good enough – we’ll copy and paste it. Get through an entire solo? Nah – just do a lot of takes and we’ll piece it together.. Sing in tune? No need. We have software for that. Not that piecing together didn’t happen with tape too. But it was so much work you at least TRIED to be able to actually play your solos.
Yes, AI is a million times worse than all than all that. There is no doubt. But software doing the work of skilled workers isn’t a new thing. That’s all I’m saying…
Sincerely,
Old dude screaming at cloud 😀
June 26, 2026 @ 11:52 pm
Screaming at cloud might be better than screaming for clout.
June 27, 2026 @ 5:46 am
Digital sounds like crap.
We need to go back to analog.
And, you are correct, Sam.
June 27, 2026 @ 9:44 am
In a blind test, you and 99% of the population wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between digital, analog, vinyl, etc. You think you can tell the difference because you have been told there everything now sounds like shit (most sound systems today do sound bad). Through a top line system, only the most discerning ear would be able to notice the different.
June 30, 2026 @ 9:46 am
I bought a $400 “microsystem” from Philips a couple of years ago – for the garage – it even had a CD player, that’s why I landed on that TAM-model, but I instantly regretted it. Lots of fanciness, sure, DAB, BT and all that, but the sound is really poor, maybe a bit better than the generic stereo cassette deck from the 70’s that graced my bedroom as a tiny kid.
I kept it to atone for my sins.
June 30, 2026 @ 6:43 pm
Jimmy, Bless your heart, you think you have vast knowledge, concerning the hearing and discernment of others.
June 27, 2026 @ 5:32 am
The CEO is clearly wrong. Frightening but sadly unstoppable?
June 27, 2026 @ 1:52 pm
The music industry neither wants nor needs AI. AI should go only where humanity actually does need help. Tell it to lay down its musical instruments and go find a cure for cancer instead.