Story of Suno -AI Music Generation Startup -Founder of Mikey Shulman -Entrepreneur
Story of Suno
Mikey Shulman, one of the founders and now CEO of Suno, grew
up surrounded by music. From playing piano at the age of four to bass guitar in
high school and college bands, music was always part of his life. Yet his
academic path led him to physics and later into artificial intelligence,
showing how his love for both science and creativity eventually merged into one
journey.
The Birth of an Idea
Before creating Suno, Mikey and his fellow co-founders Martin Camacho, Georg
Kucsko, and Keenan Freyberg worked together at Kensho, an AI company
specializing in financial services. While most of their work there focused on
natural language processing, they once experimented with audio by transcribing
earnings calls. This project sparked the realization that sound was far behind
text in terms of AI progress and it inspired them to take a bold step
forward.
Choosing Music Over Speech
When the team decided to start their own company, they debated whether to work
on speech recognition or music. Speech seemed safer and more straightforward,
but music felt more exciting and meaningful. They all loved music, and despite
warnings that it wasn’t the “obvious” choice, they followed their passion. That
decision gave birth to Suno.
Founding Suno in Cambridge
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, the four co-founders officially launched Suno.
Their mission was clear: to build an AI platform that could create realistic
songs — complete with vocals and instruments — directly from text prompts.
Unlike traditional AI work, music required creativity and subjectivity. For
Suno, it wasn’t about right or wrong answers but about taste, feeling, and
imagination.
Bark: The First Step
In April 2023, Suno introduced Bark, their first open-source audio and
text-to-speech model. Released on GitHub and Hugging Face under the MIT
License, Bark showed the world Suno’s technical ability and their vision of
making audio generation more open and accessible.
Going Public with Suno
By December 20, 2023, Suno launched a web app, making its AI music tools widely
available to the public. Partnering with Microsoft, they integrated Suno into Copilot
as a plugin, instantly putting the technology in front of millions of potential
users. The response was overwhelmingly positive.
Introducing Suno V3
On March 21, 2024, Suno released Version 3 of its model. This upgrade
allowed users to generate four-minute songs even with a free account, while
paid subscribers unlocked additional features. The launch also highlighted a
creative milestone when someone generated a touching ballad entirely from the
text of the MIT License.
Expanding to Mobile
On July 1, 2024, Suno released its mobile app. Suddenly, anyone with a
smartphone could create music on the go, making AI-powered creativity more
personal and accessible than ever.
Story of Suno -AI Music Generation Startup -Founder of Mikey Shulman#startup# age#net worth#suno story#AI startup#AI Music Generation#entrepreneur
Facing Legal Challenges
But success brought challenges. In June 2024, the Recording Industry
Association of America (RIAA) filed a lawsuit against Suno and another AI
company, Udio. The suit accused them of copyright infringement, seeking damages
of up to $150,000 per song. Thousands of musicians, including stars like Thom
Yorke and Björn Ulvaeus, signed an open letter demanding Suno stop using
copyrighted material for training.
Rising Above Criticism
Despite the controversy, Suno continued to grow. In March 2025, just one day
after the letter from musicians circulated, renowned producer Timbaland
endorsed Suno in a public video. This highlighted the split within the music
industry: while some feared AI, others embraced it as a tool for innovation.
Suno V4 and Better Music Quality
On November 19, 2024, Suno released Version 4 of its model. This update
greatly improved audio fidelity, lyrical quality, and song catchiness. Unlike
earlier releases, V4 was more focused on machine learning advances than
interface changes, reflecting the company’s deep technical expertise.
From Users to Record Deals
By mid-2025, Suno’s impact was undeniable. A user known as imoliver
signed a record deal with Hallwood Media in July 2025 — the first time a
traditional label had signed an AI-generated music creator. This milestone
showed how AI wasn’t just assisting musicians but was starting to reshape the
music industry itself.
Looking Toward the Future
Today, Suno boasts over 25 million users, many of whom created their very first
song on the platform. For Mikey and his team, the mission goes beyond just
making AI music. They want to make music creation engaging, interactive, and
personal — more like a game than a passive experience. By empowering people who
never played an instrument to compose songs, Suno is redefining what it means
to be a musician in the AI age.
Timeline of Suno’s Journey
- Pre-2023
– Founders (Mikey Shulman, Martin Camacho, Georg Kucsko, Keenan Freyberg)
work at Kensho and get inspired by audio AI.
- April
2023 – Release of Bark, Suno’s open-source text-to-speech and
audio model.
- Dec
20, 2023 – Public launch of Suno’s web app + partnership with
Microsoft Copilot.
- March
21, 2024 – Release of Suno V3 with free 4-minute songs.
- June
2024 – RIAA lawsuit filed against Suno and Udio for copyright
infringement.
- July
1, 2024 – Suno releases its mobile app.
- Nov
19, 2024 – Release of Suno V4, with higher music quality.
- Jan
2025 – Mikey Shulman publicly states many people don’t enjoy the
process of making music, sparking debate.
- March
2025 – After musicians’ letter against AI, Timbaland endorses Suno.
- July
2025 – First AI user, imoliver, signs a record deal with
Hallwood Media.
- 2025
(Present) – Suno surpasses 25M users, becoming one of the
world’s most popular AI music platforms.
