Is Suno pulling a SpaceX?

Good morning producers 👋🏼

Before we get into what's been happening this month, I wanted to introduce myself. About 1,500 of you open this newsletter every month, and after signing it as "the time off audio team" for a while, Moe and I decided it's time to make things more personal — the newsletter included. I'm John. You've probably seen me in a reel or an ad, I'm the one with the long hair. I'm a professor of audio engineering at YorkU in Toronto as well as a content creator. I also actively use em-dashes because I write like I speak – and em-dashes are the correct way to punctuate it. Sorry not sorry. My main role at time off audio is content and marketing. Excited to e-meet you.

The death of the independent music venue

If we were to take the IFPI 2026 Music Report at face value, it would be easy to believe that the music industry is booming. Those of us actually in the industry know that is not necessarily the case for the vast majority of artists. This is so much so that on July 16, 2026 the UK government announced its 'Turn It Up' initiative, allocating £45 million towards their domestic music industry in the form of financial support for artists, library transformation, and youth mentorship.

As I have discussed in other newsletter installments, most of the revenue generated by artists is done so on stage. Streaming has become marketing for tours, and live music is where musicians are making money. If we then consider that "grassroots music venues" or GMVs have been steadily decreasing year over year, it paints a terrifying picture. The Music Venue Trust's 2023 Report which tracks data for grassroots music venues in the UK saw a 15% loss of venues either due to bankruptcy or ceasing to host live music events. The numbers of independent music venues has continued to drop year over year. In the US, the National Independent Venue Association states that 64% of venues were not profitable in 2024. In Canada, Toronto witnessed a 13% closure rate post-pandemic and public sentiment is that local music venues are endangered, according to a survey run by the University of Toronto.

This is the primary reason behind the UK's 'Turn It Up' initiative. As one of the world's largest music markets, the UK recognized that its cultural exports cannot survive if the incubators that produce them are allowed to collapse. In more detail, the initiative aims to strengthen and fund grassroots music venues and programs, support live performances, touring, and artist promotion, and help bring greater international recognition to UK musicians. It also places a strong emphasis on music education. As part of the initiative, the government announced that it will invest up to £13 million over three years in the National Centre for Arts and Music Education, which will, as they state, "lead the way in ensuring schools can deliver high-quality art and music provision.". The question now is whether other countries will follow suit.

Suno recently posted a new job opening that caught my eye: "Director of Accounting," tasked specifically with leading the company through its first-year financial statement audit and building "the controls and rigor required for IPO readiness." Two things came to mind. First: "isn't Suno neck-deep in like a kazillion lawsuits right now?" And second: "is Suno just running the index front-running playbook that SpaceX ran?" I'm starting to think this is a recurring loophole — one that private equity is using to dump their investments and make a killing. Let me explain.

Suno describes its mission as building "a revolutionary creative platform powered by the world's best music model to bring the joy of musical expression to everyone, everywhere." Lovely. Less lovely: a motion filed May 21 asking the court to expand the labels' complaint from 560 works to 61,026 specifically identified recordings Suno allegedly trained on without permission. Run the statutory damages math for willful infringement — $750 to $150,000 per work — and you land somewhere between $45.75 million and $9.15 billion. Warner Music quietly settled in November 2025 for undisclosed terms. Sony and Universal haven't, and both are still grinding toward a hearing.

Now, you know index funds: the S&P 500, the NASDAQ, all that. They're basically an aggregate of the biggest companies in the world, and different indexes calculate "biggest" differently (the S&P 500 tracks the 500 largest US companies across all sectors; the NASDAQ tracks the 100 largest non-financial ones, etc). The idea is to diversify: spread your money across the whole pool instead of betting on one horse. Makes sense.

But here's the thing about index funds — because they're automated, they're predictable. Hit a certain size, and you know exactly what percentage of index money is about to flow your way. And with roughly 50% of US assets sitting in index funds, that's an enormous, entirely automated pile of cash just waiting for the right door to open.

So is Suno pulling a SpaceX? Not exactly, because they can't — not with the same key. SpaceX got its lightning-fast IPO by qualifying for the NASDAQ's "Top 40" rule. On May 1, 2026, NASDAQ rolled out a fast-entry provision letting any company ranked in the top 40 current NASDAQ-100 constituents by market cap join the index in just 15 trading days, instead of the usual months-long wait. Suno, at its current size, certainly doesn't clear that bar and probably won't by IPO day. But speed isn't the only lever here, because FTSE Russell made its own move — shortening its post-IPO "seasoning" window from months down to just five days. Different toll gate, same idea: get through fast, and you're plugged straight into automated index money.

And Suno has been building the case that it belongs at that gate. The Director of Accounting posting landed just after Suno closed a fresh funding round — $400 million, at a $5.4 billion valuation, more than double the $2.45 billion mark it hit in November 2025 off a $250 million raise. In February, co-founder Mikey Shulman posted that Suno had crossed 2 million paid subscribers and $300 million in ARR. That's the resume of a company trying to look IPO-ready, audit and all — while the lawsuit that could cost it up to $9.15 billion is still working its way through discovery.

So, does Suno pull off the SpaceX move? No. But between the funding hype, the subscriber numbers, and a Director of Accounting hired specifically to make the books IPO-shiny, it sure looks like Suno's aiming for the other fast lane, hoping to cash out before the lawsuit bill comes due. And if that's the play, the ones left holding the risk aren't the VCs in the sports car — it's the unsuspecting minivan behind them, packed with everyone else's retirement money. So... will Suno make it through the gate before the lawsuit catches up? Let us know your thoughts.

iZotope parts ways with Native Instruments

Okay, real talk: Native Instruments has basically become a recurring character in this newsletter's "who owns what in audio tech" saga. So let's catch up, because the plot just moved again.

If you're not familiar, iZotope makes a bunch of powerful mixing and mastering tools: Ozone, RX, that whole shebang. And as of a few months ago, they got picked up by Boris FX, the Academy and Emmy Award-winning team behind Sapphire, Continuum, and Mocha Pro.

Which raises the obvious question: why did inMusic hand over one of its most valuable brands, and is this actually good news for iZotope users?

Quick rewind:

2021 — Francisco Partners buys a majority stake in Native Instruments, which merges with iZotope.
2022 — The group scoops up Plugin Alliance and Brainworx under a new parent brand, Soundwide.
2023 — Soundwide gets retired. Everything folds back under the Native Instruments name.
January 2026 — Native Instruments enters preliminary insolvency in Germany.
June 2026 — inMusic acquires Native Instruments... but not iZotope.

Five years, one merger, one insolvency, one acquisition — I've been watching this unfold like a telenovela, and I'm still not sure who the villain is.

My best guess on why inMusic passed on iZotope: it just doesn't fit their hardware-heavy lineup (Native Instruments, Moog, M-Audio, Akai, Denon DJ). iZotope is software and these days AI-powered software, a bit of a different beast.

Boris FX makes more sense as a landing spot; they're already deep in AI-driven audio and video tools, and CEO Boris Yamnitsky said as much:

iZotope builds intelligent tools across all of audio production... Bringing iZotope into Boris FX means the tools you use to finish a project are now built under the same roof.

This also isn't Boris FX's first rodeo — they picked up VEGAS Pro, Sound Forge, and ACID Pro right before this. The pattern: acquire established creative tools, keep them alive.

Which brings me to the part I actually care about: Boris FX has kept perpetual licenses for VEGAS Pro, Sound Forge, and ACID Pro instead of forcing subscriptions. iZotope seems to be following suit, for now. I'll take that win while it lasts.

Honourable mentions

Thanks for taking the time, and as always, feel free to reach out via email or Discord for any questions or feedback!

Good morning producers 👋🏼

The death of the independent music venue