Comedian Bill Stetler has found an unconventional route to musical success by using artificial intelligence (AI) to create catchy, humorous songs that capture niche themes, ranging from Major League Baseball walk-up tracks to travel anthems. His AI-generated tribute, “The Puerto Rico Song,” has amassed nearly 20 million streams on Spotify and attracted significant attention, including a licensing deal and a promotional trip funded by Puerto Rico’s tourism board.
Stetler, who writes the lyrics while relying on the AI music generator Suno to produce the instrumentation and vocals, describes his output as “pseudomusic.” Despite feeling like an outsider in the music world, he has leveraged AI technology to gain a following, illustrating both the creative possibilities and the tensions posed by AI in the music industry.
Suno, founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2022, is a leading player in the emerging AI music market. The company reports that over 100 million users have created music using its platform, generating an average of 42 songs per month. Around two million users pay a subscription fee for premium features such as track separation into vocals and instruments. The app briefly topped Apple’s music category downloads, and streaming platforms like Deezer have noted that AI-generated tracks now constitute a significant portion of their uploaded content. Spotify, in collaboration with Universal Music Group, has introduced paid options for users to remix songs using AI.
While AI music tools like Suno have been celebrated by some artists, including hip-hop producer Dr. Dre, who views the technology as a new form of creative expression, others in the industry have expressed concern. Critics argue that AI-generated music may infringe on artists’ rights by using copyrighted material without proper authorization. In 2024, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed suit against Suno on behalf of major labels Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group, alleging unauthorized training of AI models on copyrighted songs. Though Warner Music settled its claims, litigation with Sony and Universal continues.
A significant point of contention stems from accusations that platforms like Suno have scraped copyrighted content from streaming services and lyric databases to train their systems without consent. Suno acknowledges that its models have been trained on publicly available music online but denies any illegal activity, calling outdated source code cited by hackers irrelevant.
In a strategic pivot, Warner Music Group announced a partnership allowing its artists to opt in for their voices, images, and compositions to be used in AI-generated tracks via Suno. The deal includes Suno’s acquisition of the concert discovery platform Songkick and plans to develop a licensed AI model using Warner’s music catalog. Warner’s CEO Robert Kyncl described the collaboration as a way to influence the future of AI in music while protecting artists’ interests. A similar agreement was reached by Suno with BMG earlier this year, though financial details remain undisclosed.
Conversely, some platforms are taking a strict stance against AI music. The independent streaming service Bandcamp instituted a ban on AI-generated music uploads, emphasizing the importance of distinguishing between organically created music and AI-produced tracks.
Public reception appears mixed but cautiously open. An analysis by the music analytics company Luminate found that most Americans surveyed were either comfortable or indifferent about AI’s role in music consumption. However, Luminate also noted that while AI-generated songs proliferate, they represent a small share of actual listening activity.
Stetler’s experience underscores this dynamic: after selling the rights to “The Puerto Rico Song,” the Universal-owned label Xploded Music commissioned a human-produced version that now streams prominently on Spotify. Stetler remains positive about the development, viewing human covers as enriching the creative life cycle of his AI-originated work. This hybrid approach may point to the evolving relationship between human artistry and AI in the music industry’s future.