Nvidia's venture fund invested $250 million in Suno last November. Two major labels had already sued the AI music company by then.
Now those labels, Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, want Nvidia's investment team to testify about what it knew1. NVentures, Nvidia's venture arm, filed a motion to quash on Nov. 10, a request asking the court to cancel the subpoena outright. The firm says it has already handed over more than 6,300 documents5.
A $250 Million Investor Resists Testifying
NVentures joined Suno's Series C round in November 2025. The $250 million raise valued the AI company at $2.45 billion. Lightspeed, Menlo Ventures and Hallwood Media also put money in1.
Universal and Sony had already sued Suno by then. Their first case, filed in Boston federal court in June 2024, covers 560 recordings and carries statutory damages up to $84 million. A second case, filed Sept. 18, covers 60,202 more recordings and carries exposure of $9.03 billion14.
Suno's Second Lawsuit Pushes Its Risk to $9.03 Billion
Maximum statutory copyright damages Universal Music and Sony Music could win, by lawsuit
The first column is the $84 million ceiling from the 2024 case's 560 recordings; the second is the $9.03 billion ceiling from the second case's 60,202 recordings.
Both figures are statutory ceilings for willful infringement; each case awaits its own verdict.
Sources: Music Business Worldwide [1]; Music Business Worldwide [4]. Chart by Ryan Elliott Dennis.
The numbers behind this chart
| Item | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| First suit | $0.08B | 560 works, filed June 2024 |
| Second suit | $9.03B | 60,202 works, filed Sept. 18 |
The labels subpoenaed NVentures on Aug. 17. They wanted a representative to answer questions on 13 topics. Negotiations trimmed that list to ten1.
Each topic covered what NVentures knew about Suno's training data and why it invested anyway. The list also covered the licensing costs Suno skipped.
NVentures says ten is still too many. "Considered together, these demands would turn a passive minority investor into a source of testimony about the defendant's conduct and the economics of an entire industry," the firm argued. "Plaintiffs should obtain testimony about the defendant's conduct from the defendant"1.
Nvidia's venture money sits at the edge of a fight it joined late. The Series C closed more than a year after Universal and Sony filed suit. Suno's board seats went to investors other than NVentures1.
Nvidia Corporation itself filed a separate motion the same day. It fought a different subpoena tied to the same case.
The Deposition the Labels Already Won
Universal and Sony have run this play before, and won. C.C. Gong, then a principal at Menlo Ventures, posted on social media about her own listening habits. "I've personally shifted most of my listening to Suno. I was so tired of Spotify giving me the same overplayed recommendations," she wrote2.
Gong deleted the post. Ed Newton-Rex, chief executive of the nonprofit Fairly Trained, had already captured it. "This tweet, from Suno's lead investor, will surely be used in court one day," he wrote in February, months before anyone sued over it2.
Ed Newton-Rex@ednewtonrexThis tweet, from Suno’s lead investor, will surely be used in court one day.
She says she has shifted her listening from Spotify to Suno. *This is a direct admission that Suno competes with the music it trains on.*
This is exactly the kind of competition that Judge Chhabria, in… https://t.co/SCFlktthlO pic.twitter.com/rPmnae4IqM
He was right. On Oct. 23, Universal Music Group told the court that Gong's post "bears directly on the effect of Suno on the market for Plaintiffs' copyrighted sound recordings, and thus on the fourth fair use factor"2. That factor decides Suno's own defense. A model trained on copyrighted songs stays legal only when the market for those songs stays intact.
Magistrate Judge Paul G. Levenson agreed on Oct. 26. He cleared Universal and Sony to depose Gong within 30 days, even after she had already left Menlo2. Suno stayed neutral in that fight, telling the court only that the timing broke its own discovery schedule.
Nvidia Sells Labels Safety While It Fights Their Subpoena
Nvidia's position looks stranger beside its other music-industry deal. Universal Music Group announced that partnership in January, built around a Nvidia model called Music Flamingo3.
"We're entering an era where a music catalog can be explored like an intelligent universe, conversational, contextual, and genuinely interactive," said Richard Kerris, Nvidia's VP/GM of media, describing the deal3. He added a pledge: Nvidia would "do it the right way: responsibly, with safeguards that protect artists' work, ensure attribution, and respect copyright".
Ten months later, NVentures told a different court something else. It called its own knowledge of Suno's training data "confidential, private investment analyses" that are "entirely irrelevant" to this exact lawsuit1.
UMG signed one deal with Nvidia about protecting artists. Now Sony and UMG are fighting Nvidia's venture arm in court. The fight is over whether that arm helped fund a company accused of skipping that protection entirely.
A similar dispute already drew a legal line. Judge Kandis Westmore ordered venture firm Andreessen Horowitz to hand over records in that case. The dispute covered Suno's rival, Udio. One of the firm's partners sat on Udio's board.
"This is not a case where a16z was a mere passive investor, whose only role was deciding whether or not to invest in Udio," Westmore wrote1. NVentures leans on that same ruling now. It points to the other side of Westmore's line. A board seat and a training-data voice at Suno both belonged to other investors.
What Every AI Investor Risks Next
Suno kept raising money after the lawsuits piled up. It closed a $400 million round in June at a $5.4 billion valuation, more than double the price NVentures paid in1.
Lightspeed faces the same fight NVentures does, with one difference that could decide both cases. Its seat on Suno's board is the exact distinction Westmore's ruling turned on1. Menlo led the round both firms joined, and now finds a former employee facing a deposition over her own listening habits2.
Suno's Investor Fight Moves Five Times in 99 Days
Dated steps in Universal and Sony's push to depose Suno's investors, Aug. 17 to Nov. 24, 2026
Each pin marks one dated step the fight over Suno's investors has already taken or has scheduled next.
Sources: Music Business Worldwide [1]; Music Business Worldwide [2]. Chart by Ryan Elliott Dennis.
The numbers behind this chart
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Aug. 17, 2026 | Labels subpoena investor. Subpoena served on NVentures, Nvidia's venture arm |
| Oct. 23, 2026 | Labels cite Gong's post. Motion calls the ex-Menlo principal's post key evidence |
| Oct. 26, 2026 | Judge clears deposition. Levenson lets the labels depose C.C. Gong |
| Nov. 10, 2026 | NVentures moves to quash |
| Nov. 24, 2026 | Labels' response due |
Every venture firm that wrote Suno a check now watches two open questions settle one point. Does a board seat decide who testifies? Or does any dollar invested in a sued AI company carry the same risk?
The labels' Nov. 24 filing will answer NVentures directly. It will tell venture investors across AI how far that risk reaches beyond music.
What to Do
A musician or label weighing a Suno or Udio deal should read NVentures' own numbers first. Its $250 million check left training decisions and the board seat to other investors. That check still drew a subpoena with ten open topics.
Founders courting AI investors should ask what those investors will say under oath if a lawsuit arrives later. Gong's case shows a casual post can outlast a deleted account and reach a courtroom a year on.
By the Numbers
- NVentures' $250 million bought into Suno's November 2025 Series C round, valued at $2.45 billion1.
- Universal and Sony's first Suno lawsuit carries maximum statutory damages of $84 million, covering 560 recordings1.
- Their second lawsuit raises that ceiling to $9.03 billion, covering 60,202 more recordings filed Sept. 184.
- Document count: NVentures says it already produced 6,324 files to the labels, across 28,194 pages1.
- Ten topics are what the labels still want NVentures to answer under oath, trimmed down from 131.
- Suno's valuation reached $5.4 billion after its June Series D, more than double what NVentures paid for its stake1.
What to Watch
Universal and Sony must answer NVentures' motion by Nov. 24. Their filing will say whether a board seat, beyond the size of a check, decides who testifies in an AI copyright case.
Watch Lightspeed's own motion too. Its board seat sets it apart from NVentures. A split ruling between the two would draw Judge Westmore's line sharper for every venture firm backing an AI startup.
Sources
- Mandy Dalugdug, "NVIDIA's venture arm asks court to block UMG and Sony's demand for testimony in Suno lawsuit, calling itself a 'passive minority investor,'" Music Business Worldwide, Nov. 12, 2026, https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/nvidias-venture-arm-asks-court-to-block-umg-and-sonys-demand-for-testimony-in-suno-lawsuit-calling-itself-a-passive-minority-investor/
- Tim Ingham, "Universal and Sony cleared to depose ex-Menlo Ventures exec over deleted post: 'I've personally shifted most of my listening to Suno,'" Music Business Worldwide, Oct. 26, 2026, https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/universal-and-sony-cleared-to-depose-ex-menlo-ventures-exec-over-deleted-post-ive-personally-shifted-most-of-my-listening-to-suno/
- PR Newswire, "Universal Music Group to Transform Music Experience for Billions of Fans With NVIDIA AI," PR Newswire, Jan. 6, 2026, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/universal-music-group-to-transform-music-experience-for-billions-of-fans-with-nvidia-ai-302653913.html
- Tim Ingham, "Universal and Sony sue Suno for a second time, claiming platform's v6 models are 'the fruit of the same poisoned tree,'" Music Business Worldwide, Sept. 18, 2026, https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/universal-and-sony-sue-suno-for-a-second-time-claiming-platforms-v6-models-are-the-fruit-of-the-same-poisoned-tree/
- Dylan Smith, "Nvidia Moves to Quash 'Burdensome' UMG v. Suno Deposition Subpoena, Says It's Already Produced Over 6,300 Documents," Digital Music News, Nov. 11, 2026, https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2026/11/11/nvidia-suno-umg-subpoena-quash-motion/
- Nolan Strong, "NVIDIA's Suno Investor Fights Music Labels Over Court Testimony," AllHipHop, Nov. 13, 2026, https://allhiphop.com/news/nvidias-suno-investor-fights-music-labels-over-court-testimony/
