BTS, PSY and 2NE1 Recordings Identified in Suno AI Copyright Lawsuit

Recordings associated with BTS, PSY and 2NE1 have been identified in a major U.S. copyright lawsuit involving AI music-generation company Suno, bringing several of K-pop’s most recognizable songs into an ongoing legal dispute over artificial intelligence and music rights.

According to October 28 reporting by Korea JoongAng Daily, the recordings appear on a list of 60,202 tracks that record labels affiliated with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment allege Suno used without authorization to train its generative AI models.

The identified recordings include PSY’s “Gangnam Style” and “Gentleman,” alongside two BTS collaborations: “Bad Decisions,” recorded with benny blanco and Snoop Dogg, and Steve Aoki’s “Waste It On Me,” featuring BTS.

The list also includes will.i.am’s “Gettin’ Dumb,” featuring 2NE1.

The recordings were identified through materials submitted as part of the labels’ copyright litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

The dispute began in June 2024, when major recording companies filed an initial copyright infringement lawsuit against Suno. Universal- and Sony-affiliated labels subsequently filed an additional lawsuit on September 18, 2026.

According to Korea JoongAng Daily, audio specialists working for the labels examined Suno’s training data during court-authorized discovery. Their analysis compared acoustic fingerprints from that data with recordings controlled by the companies, producing the list of allegedly infringed works.

The figure of 60,202 represents recordings identified by the plaintiffs in the litigation, not a confirmed total of every song Suno has used for AI training.

In an October 20 court response, Suno acknowledged obtaining audio from YouTube for training purposes using YT-DLP, a tool capable of downloading audio and video from online platforms.

The company also acknowledged that it has not deleted every recording previously used to train its models, while explaining that the labels had requested preservation of training datasets during earlier legal correspondence.

However, Suno disputes the copyright infringement allegations and argues that its training process is protected under U.S. fair-use law. Its acknowledgement of obtaining YouTube audio does not amount to an admission that using the specifically identified Korean recordings infringed copyright.

The case has also drawn attention from the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA), which said it believes substantial numbers of Korean musical works may have been used for AI training and is considering legal action if necessary to protect creators’ rights.

No separate Korean legal filing was confirmed in the reporting.

The involvement of recordings associated with BTS, PSY and 2NE1 underscores the international reach of the dispute, particularly as generative AI services raise questions about the use of existing music in training datasets.

No U.S. court ruling establishing infringement of the identified recordings has been announced. The allegations remain contested, and the Korean artists named in the recording list are not necessarily individual plaintiffs in the case.