Leaked Files Reveal Extent of Suno's Music Scraping

The files, obtained by 404 Media from a hacker identified as “ellie.191,” detail specific scraping operations conducted between 2023 and 2024. Documentation reveals that Suno utilized the third-party service Bright Data to extract audio from YouTube and intentionally sought out a cappella versions to isolate vocal tracks. One internal file explicitly cites a collection of 2,013,545 YouTube Music clips used for model training.

These revelations directly challenge Suno’s previous stance in litigation brought by the Recording Industry Association of America. While the company has argued that its use of public internet data falls under fair use doctrine, the RIAA maintains that the startup illegally circumvented digital copyright protections. Beyond YouTube, the leaked scraping instructions implicate a wide array of sources, including Pond5, Jamendo, Freesound, and the International Music Score Library Project.