February 27, 2025
In a move that underscores the growing influence of artificial intelligence in the music industry, Amazon has announced a partnership between its new AI-powered Alexa+ voice assistant and Suno, an AI music generation platform. This collaboration allows users to create songs using simple voice commands, a feature that arrives despite Suno being embroiled in multiple copyright infringement lawsuits. The announcement has sparked both excitement and concern within the music community.
Alexa+ and Suno: A New Era of Music Creation
According to Amazon, Alexa+ will enable users to generate complete songs, including vocals, lyrics, and instrumentation, through its integration with Suno. Amazon highlighted creative possibilities, noting that users could create personalized songs for events like birthdays or even generate music using favorite cartoon characters.
“Using Alexa’s integration with Suno, you can turn simple, creative requests into complete songs, including vocals, lyrics, and instrumentation,” Amazon said in a blog post on Wednesday, February 26.
Suno’s integration into Alexa+ comes four months after a strategic advisory partnership with Timbaland who had been, according to Suno, a top user of the platform for months prior.
Copyright Concerns and Industry Backlash
Suno’s reputation in the music industry is complicated by an ongoing copyright infringement lawsuit filed by GEMA, the German collection society and licensing body. In June, major record companies, along with fellow AI firm Udio, also sued Suno for allegedly training their systems using recordings without permission, a claim they reportedly acknowledged in court filings.
This is not the first time Amazon has embraced AI companies at odds with the music industry. Amazon is a primary investor in Anthropic, the AI developer currently facing a lawsuit from music publishers. Despite the legal battles, Amazon has continued to invest heavily in AI, with a total of $8 billion invested in Anthropic.
Alexa+ Features and Capabilities
Beyond its music generation capabilities, Alexa+ offers a range of new features. It’s equipped with an integrated version of Anthropic’s Claude chatbot designed to provide faster and more accurate responses. It will also provide users the ability to track favorite musical artists and learn about new music trends.
Users can also enjoy greater convenience while listening to music through Amazon’s voice assistant. For instance, users may shift music from one device to another simply by telling Alexa+ to “play the music upstairs.”
Amazon has also incorporated an integration with Ticketmaster, enabling Alexa+ to locate and notify users about the best tickets available for sports events and concerts. It will also alert users if prices drop to their desired range. For the time being, Alexa+ is available in “early access” mode for users of the Echo Show tablet in the US, but will be available in the future on all devices. According to a FAQ page, it will eventually be available on all Echo devices except for certain older, first-generation devices.
“Alexa+ is designed to take action, and is able to orchestrate across tens of thousands of services and devices—which, to our knowledge, has never been done at this scale,” Panos Panay, Amazon’s SVP of Devices and Services, wrote in a blog post.
Expanded Functionality and Privacy Considerations
Alexa+ boasts an extensive range of capabilities through its “experts” system which offers options to control smart home devices from different manufacturers and create reservations. Users can also explore discographies and play music from various streaming services, as well as order groceries from Amazon Fresh or delivery from Grubhub and Uber Eats. Users will also have the ability to customize Alexa+ with their own personal data, such as documents and photos, which can be used to answer questions about their personal life.
However, this level of personal interaction raises questions about privacy concerns. Amazon has assured users that their privacy will be protected through the Alexa Privacy dashboard. Furthermore, Alexa+ will have “agentic capabilities” allowing it to navigate the internet independently.
Developer Tools and Integration
To facilitate integrations with businesses, Amazon has rolled out a series of software development kits (SDKs). These include the Alexa AI Action SDK for conventional APIs and the AI Web Action SDK which enables Alexa+ to perform tasks on enterprise websites. Additionally, the AI Multi-Agent SDK is designed for complex tasks and to create “specialized agents that will be extremely smart in very specific areas.” This SDK supports Suno’s music creation capabilities and a math tutor powered by Wolfram.
Alexa+ is set to be a free offering for Amazon Prime subscribers and will come at a monthly cost of $19.99 for non-subscribers, but it does not have a launch date for devices outside of the United States and for other languages. The partnership between Amazon and Suno represents a pivotal moment in how we create and consume music, although questions surrounding copyright and potential privacy issues must be addressed for acceptance and full accessibility.
