Believe and TuneCore will require artists to give explicit consent before their music can be supplied for AI model training, putting two separate approval steps between an independent artist’s catalog and companies such as Suno.
The policy became clearer September 16th, when Believe founder and CEO Denis Ladegaillerie detailed how the company’s recently announced Suno partnership will work for individual artists and labels. A general willingness to participate in Believe’s AI programs will not automatically authorize Suno to train on an artist’s recordings.
“The artist must consent first, period,” Ladegaillerie told Music Business Worldwide.
The distinction matters because Believe is not rejecting generative AI. Just eight days earlier, the company and TuneCore signed a global partnership allowing participating repertoire into new Suno models built around licensed music. Believe is instead trying to make individual artist permission part of the infrastructure behind those deals.
Artists Have to Clear Two Consent Gates
Believe’s system separates a general willingness to consider AI opportunities from permission to participate in an individual deal.
- First consent: Artists decide whether they want Believe or TuneCore to present them with AI-related opportunities at all.
- Second consent: Artists separately approve or reject each specific partnership, including whether their repertoire can be used in the Suno agreement.
Saying yes at the first stage does not automatically put an artist’s music into an AI training dataset.
Once a specific opportunity appears, Believe approaches eligible artists again. That could involve Suno or another future AI program, leaving the artist free to evaluate each proposal separately.
Ladegaillerie described the process as “two layers of consent.” For Suno, Believe plans to contact artists who previously opted into consideration for AI opportunities and ask whether they want their repertoire included in that particular arrangement.
A no at the second stage keeps the music out.
The structure means an artist can remain open to AI licensing generally without granting Believe blanket permission to place a catalog into every future technology partnership.
The Suno Deal Still Moves Forward
The consent policy could sound like Believe putting distance between itself and Suno. Commercially, the two companies are moving closer together.
Believe and Suno announced a global strategic partnership September 8th covering participating repertoire from Believe and TuneCore. Music from artists and labels that choose to take part can be included in new Suno models developed with licensed music-industry partners.
Participating rightsholders are supposed to receive compensation, although detailed financial terms have not been disclosed.
The arrangement also creates a route in the opposite direction. Tracks made using Suno’s new industry-partner model can qualify for distribution through Believe and TuneCore, connecting AI-assisted creation with the same infrastructure independent musicians use to reach Spotify, Apple Music and other services.
Suno’s partnership announcement describes the agreement as a way for independent musicians to participate in new AI products while retaining control over whether their work is involved. Suno also points to safeguards including audio watermarking and fingerprinting.
Consent is therefore operating inside a commercial AI strategy rather than as an argument for keeping generative music outside the distribution business.
Suno V6 Changed Believe’s Position
The partnership stands out because Believe and TuneCore were blocking Suno-generated music only months earlier.
In April, the companies said they would refuse distribution of tracks detected as being partly or fully generated by models trained on copyrighted music without authorization. Suno’s earlier models fell under that policy.
MBW documented the restrictions while Believe pursued partnerships with AI companies it considered compatible with licensed music.
Believe says the underlying policy has not changed. Suno has.
Suno introduced V6 in September and says the model was trained from scratch using licensed material from music-industry partners rather than simply extending the training corpus behind earlier versions. That is Suno’s characterization of the new model, and the composition of AI training datasets remains a closely scrutinized issue across the music business.
Believe says V6 satisfies its requirement that protected material used for training be licensed or otherwise expressly authorized. Tracks generated with V6 and future qualifying Suno models can therefore be considered for distribution through Believe and TuneCore.
Music generated by earlier Suno models remains outside that policy.
Opting Out Keeps Music Out of Training
The practical consequence goes beyond selecting a preference inside an artist account.
If a Believe or TuneCore artist rejects the Suno opportunity, Believe says that artist’s repertoire will be excluded from the training material supplied through the licensed partnership.
That places the decision before the music enters the relevant training process rather than offering only a mechanism to object afterward.
Believe’s existing AI principles organize the company’s approach around consent, control, value-sharing and transparency. Ladegaillerie has indicated that a smaller pool of available repertoire is an acceptable consequence if artists decide they do not want to participate.
“Artists need to be able to make their own decisions,” he told MBW.
How many artists will opt in remains unknown. Believe has not disclosed an expected participation rate across TuneCore’s self-releasing artists, Believe-developed acts or independent labels using its services.
That figure could eventually matter to both sides of the arrangement. Licensed AI models need enough authorized material to be useful, while a genuine opt-in system can access only the portion of a catalog whose rightsholders actively agree to participate.
Independent Artists Get a Deal-by-Deal Choice
TuneCore makes the consent structure particularly significant because of the musicians it serves.
Rather than operating like a traditional label roster, TuneCore provides distribution infrastructure for self-releasing artists placing their music on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube and other services. Those musicians can have sharply different views about generative AI and how their recordings should be used.
One artist might accept Suno training in exchange for compensation while rejecting a later deal with another company. Someone else could refuse model training entirely while still using AI-assisted production tools. Another musician may want to evaluate the economics of every proposal before making a decision.
Believe’s two-stage system is designed to preserve those distinctions.
The first opt-in effectively says, “show me AI opportunities.” The second determines whether the artist actually joins one.
That differs materially from treating AI training rights as one broad authorization attached to digital distribution.
TuneCore has been surveying independent musicians about AI for several years. Its AI policy traces the company’s current principles back to research conducted with self-releasing artists around generative tools, monetization, consent and transparency.
The Suno agreement turns those principles into a real licensing test involving one of generative music’s largest platforms.
Consent Does Not Answer Every AI Question
Permission resolves one major issue, but it does not settle the economics of licensed AI music.
Believe and Suno have not publicly disclosed how participating artists will be compensated. It remains unclear from the announced terms whether payments are primarily upfront, tied to usage, connected to generated outputs or calculated through another licensing structure.
Artists may also want to know how revenue is divided among the different rights attached to commercially released music. A recording can involve master rights, composition rights, songwriters, publishers, featured performers, producers, labels and other parties whose interests are not necessarily identical.
Believe’s announcement says participating artists and labels will be compensated and their rights protected, but the detailed economics remain private.
Suno similarly emphasizes that participating Believe and TuneCore artists can choose to enter new product experiences and receive payment for their work. Its description of the Believe partnership presents licensed participation as a departure from the approach associated with earlier generations of AI music models.
None of that establishes what an individual artist will earn from saying yes.
The wider licensing market also remains fragmented. Some music companies have begun negotiating commercial agreements with generative platforms, while others continue litigating over the alleged unauthorized use of copyrighted recordings in earlier AI training.
Believe occupies a position between those two approaches. It previously blocked output from Suno’s earlier models, now licenses participating repertoire to newer Suno technology, and says neither agreement nor corporate strategy can override an individual artist’s choice.
Artist Consent Becomes Part of AI Licensing
The Believe-TuneCore policy turns a broad argument about creator control into a practical licensing rule.
Artists first decide whether they want AI opportunities presented to them. Those who opt in then decide whether a specific company or product can use their music. Rejecting Suno does not prevent an artist from considering another AI opportunity later.
That structure gives Believe a way to pursue AI revenue without treating the catalogs it distributes as automatically available for model training.
For TuneCore, consent could also become part of how the distributor competes for self-releasing musicians. Distribution platforms increasingly provide similar routes into major streaming services, making policies around AI, fraud, rights and catalog control another area where they can distinguish themselves.
The September 16th interview makes Believe’s position unusually straightforward: the distributor can negotiate an AI partnership, but participation is still supposed to happen at the artist level.
Believe has agreed to work with Suno. Its artists still get to decide whether their music comes with it.