The ‘walled garden’ was a key feature in several of the AI-music licensing deals struck by major labels in late 2025.
The idea was that the tracks created on platforms like Udio – which agreed to these restrictions – would stay there, rather than be able to be released on streaming services.
Someone isn’t on board with that idea though, and it’s the biggest player in the GenAI music space: Suno. At least, that’s the takeaway from a LinkedIn post this week by its chief music officer (and former major-label exec) Paul Sinclair.
“There’s a growing narrative that the safest future for music is one where new creative tools live inside tightly controlled, ‘walled garden’ environments. The idea is that if music can’t leave the platform, can’t be downloaded, edited elsewhere, shared freely, or distributed more broadly, then rights are better protected,” he wrote.
Sinclair went on to make the case for these platforms growing “the overall creative ecosystem” – but only if they don’t put up those walls.
“For that promise to be real, these tools can’t just be toys inside a box. Creativity is messy and interconnected. People want to move an idea from one tool into another, collaborate across platforms with others, share socially, and, when something truly resonates, bring it into the wider music world.”
As MBW pointed out, those views bring Suno into direct opposition to Universal Music Group in particular, with its EVP and chief digital officer Michael Nash having recently admitted that the disagreement is a key stumbling block in licensing talks between UMG and Suno.
