--- title: "Suno bought the top AI music spot with licenses; ACE Music v1 just took it, 1,160 to 1,144" description: "Suno bought the top of the AI music chart with licensed Warner, BMG and Believe catalogs; six weeks later a challenger holds it, and that challenger's model family is going free. The pricing test lands on Spotify's planned $4 to $5 remix tier and on what the majors can charge for AI training data." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Model" published: 2026-11-12T22:08:52.244Z modified: 2026-11-12T22:08:52.244Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/suno-bought-the-top-ai-music-spot-with-licenses-ace-music-v1-just-took-it-1-160-to-1-144 language: en keywords: "AI Music, Suno, Music Licensing, Spotify, AI Models" --- # Suno bought the top AI music spot with licenses; ACE Music v1 just took it, 1,160 to 1,144 > Suno bought the top of the AI music chart with licensed Warner, BMG and Believe catalogs; six weeks later a challenger holds it, and that challenger's model family is going free. The pricing test lands on Spotify's planned $4 to $5 remix tier and on what the majors can charge for AI training data. ## A 16-point lead, inside the error bars ACE Music v1, the first full-song model from ACE Studio, a company founded in 2018 to synthesise singing voices, took first place on November 11 on Artificial Analysis' [blind-listening chart for vocal AI music](https://artificialanalysis.ai/music/leaderboard/vocals): 1,160 Elo to 1,144 for [Suno](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/suno) v6 [1]. Voters hear paired tracks generated from the same prompt, model names hidden, and pick a favorite [1]. Sixteen points is roughly a 52/48 edge, and the 95% confidence intervals overlap: a lead, not a rout [2]. Suno still leads the separate instrumental board at 1,148, on which ACE Music v1 is not ranked [3]. *Chart: **A challenger with no label deal tops the vocal board** Bar chart of blind-listening Elo on the vocal board: ACE Music v1 at 1160 leads Suno v6 at 1144, Suno v6-mini at 1132, Mureka V9.5 at 1101 and Eleven Music v2.5 at 1016.* *Elo from blind pairwise listening votes on AA-Music-Vocal v1.1, as of November 11, 2026; 95% confidence intervals overlap for the top three models. Source: Artificial Analysis. [1]* ## The top spot was bought with licenses Suno [launched v6 on September 9 and retired every earlier model the same day](https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/09/suno-replaces-its-ai-models-with-a-new-one-trained-on-licensed-music-as-copyright-suits-pile-up/), rebuilding on licensed catalogs from Warner Music Group, BMG and Believe, with a share of the subscription fee flowing back to those labels [4][2]. That is what lets Suno sell clean commercial rights to its more than 2 million subscribers, who produced $300 million of annual revenue at last count, on a $5.4 billion private valuation [4][6]. The Inference priced Suno's unresolved catalog disputes at $9 billion in September ([Suno's clean restart just collided with its $9 billion past](https://theinference.org/article/suno-s-licensed-pivot-now-carries-a-9bn-legal-ceiling)) [4][6]. The lawsuits continue anyway: [on November 6, Elvis Presley's rights holders sued over 859 works](https://www.macombdaily.com/2026/11/12/elvis-rights-holders-and-eminems-publisher-sue-suno-testing-the-elvis-act/), seeking up to $128.85 million in statutory damages plus more than $50 million under Tennessee's ELVIS Act, and Eight Mile Style, the publisher of 269 Eminem compositions, sought up to $40.35 million [5][6]. ## The challenger's family is going free The flagship stays closed, and neither ACE Music v1 nor Suno v6 has a public API [2]. But ACE Studio and StepFun already give away ACE-Step 1.5, a 4-billion-parameter open-weights model with commercial-use rights, and [promise to open-source ACE Music v1 Flash](https://decrypt.co/383070/new-ai-music-model-already-better-than-suno-ace-review), a lighter build balancing quality against hardware, in late 2026 [7][8]. Two caveats carry the weight: Flash is not promised at parity, and ACE has documented no licensing posture of its own, so the free weights may carry the exact liability Suno paid to shed [2][7]. ## When a license becomes a clearance fee The Financial Times reported on October 30 that [Spotify](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/spotify) is [weighing a $4 to $5 monthly add-on for AI covers and remixes in early 2027](https://mashable.com/life/spotify-ai-remix-tool-listener-backlash), on deals with Universal, Merlin, Believe and Kobalt, with each artist opting in [9]. That price assumes consent is worth paying for. The board now shows a licensed flagship inside the error bars of a challenger whose sibling is already free, and for Warner Music Group, [Sony](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/sony) and Universal, a substitute priced at zero sits one release away. A license stops being a premium the moment it becomes a clearance fee. Watch where Flash lands on the board, [what Spotify finally charges](https://theinference.org/article/spotify-puts-a-5-price-tag-on-fan-remixes-as-the-unlicensed-bill-reaches-9-billion), and the first ruling in the November cases. ## Takeaway ACE Music v1 leads Suno v6 by 16 Elo points on the vocal board, a lead inside overlapping intervals, while Suno's licensed rebuild faces fresh Elvis and Eminem suits. ## Sources 1. [Artificial Analysis, AA-Music-Vocal v1.1 Leaderboard, accessed 12 November 2026](https://artificialanalysis.ai/music/leaderboard/vocals) 2. [OrcaRouter, ACE Music v1 vs Suno v5: One Model No Longer Exists, 11 November 2026](https://www.orcarouter.ai/blog/ace-music-v1-vs-suno-v5) 3. [Artificial Analysis, AA-Music-Instrumental v1.1 Leaderboard, accessed 12 November 2026](https://artificialanalysis.ai/music/leaderboard/instrumental) 4. [TechCrunch, Suno replaces its AI models with a new one trained on licensed music as copyright suits pile up, 9 September 2026](https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/09/suno-replaces-its-ai-models-with-a-new-one-trained-on-licensed-music-as-copyright-suits-pile-up/) 5. [The Next Web, Why Elvis Presley's and Eminem's music owners are suing Suno, 12 November 2026](https://thenextweb.com/news/suing-suno-elvis-presley-eminem-lawsuits-elvis-act) 6. [Macomb Daily (Los Angeles Times), Elvis rights holders and Eminem's publisher sue Suno, testing the ELVIS Act, 12 November 2026](https://www.macombdaily.com/2026/11/12/elvis-rights-holders-and-eminems-publisher-sue-suno-testing-the-elvis-act/) 7. [Decrypt, This New AI Music Model Is Already Better Than Suno, We Put ACE to the Test, 12 November 2026](https://decrypt.co/383070/new-ai-music-model-already-better-than-suno-ace-review) 8. [OrcaRouter, ACE Music v1 vs ElevenLabs Music: 1,160 vs 1,016 Elo, 11 November 2026](https://www.orcarouter.ai/blog/ace-music-v1-vs-elevenlabs-music) 9. [Mashable, Would you pay Spotify extra to remix your favorite songs with AI?, 8 November 2026](https://mashable.com/life/spotify-ai-remix-tool-listener-backlash) --- Suno bought the top AI music spot with licenses; ACE Music v1 just took it, 1,160 to 1,144 — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/suno-bought-the-top-ai-music-spot-with-licenses-ace-music-v1-just-took-it-1-160-to-1-144