Universal Music Group and ElevenLabs announced on September 10 a multi-year licensing agreement and strategic collaboration to launch an AI-powered music platform for fans, along with jointly developed AI audio products for artists and songwriters. The deal is ElevenLabs' first with a major record label, according to the companies' announcement.

The agreement — described by the companies as a first-of-its-kind collaboration spanning licensing and product development — arrives as the music industry continues to search for a workable model for generative AI: one that permits fan creativity without cutting artists out of the value their work creates. For more context on this story, see our ongoing breaking AI news.

What the Platform Will Let Fans Do

The relationship begins with a new AI-powered music creation platform, now in development and to be launched by ElevenLabs. Built on licensed music and artist participation, the platform will give fans new ways to co-create with music from participating artists and songwriters, according to the announcement.

Those creation modes include remixes and mashups, new interpretations of existing tracks, and personalized vocal experiences. The companies said the agreement also covers the development of additional products and fan experiences in the months and years to come, though they did not announce a launch date or pricing for the platform.

The new platform will be distinct and offered separately from ElevenLabs' existing music products, the companies said — a distinction that matters for artists deciding how their catalogs may and may not be used.

'Put Artists, Songwriters, and Fans at the Center'

UMG chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge framed the deal as an artist-first approach to AI. "The most exciting possibilities for AI and music are those that put artists, songwriters, and fans at the center," Grainge said in the announcement. He added that UMG and ElevenLabs are aligned that responsible AI can inspire discovery, deepen engagement between artists and fans, and unlock new revenue opportunities for the creative community.

Mati Staniszewski, cofounder and CEO of ElevenLabs, emphasized the interactive possibilities. "AI opens up incredible possibilities for interacting with our favorite music and artists," Staniszewski said. "By combining UMG's global community and rights management expertise with our AI models and products, we'll enable artists and songwriters to create powerful new experiences for their fans, and ensure they are fairly compensated."

The compensation language is central to the deal's positioning. The companies said the agreement reflects their shared commitment to the principles that AI-enabled music innovation should be built responsibly, respect human artistry, and enable artists and songwriters to share in the value created.

ElevenLabs' First Major-Label Deal

For ElevenLabs, the agreement marks a significant expansion from voice into music. The company describes itself as an AI research and product company building voice and audio models, creative tools, and conversational agents across more than 70 languages, with customers spanning consumers, developers, governments and businesses — including employees at two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, according to the announcement.

A first major-label license gives the startup something that raw model capability cannot: lawful access to copyrighted recordings that fans actually want to remix, under terms that compensate rights holders. It also positions ElevenLabs as a bridge between the AI and music industries at a moment when many rights holders remain deeply skeptical of generative models.

A Template for Licensed Generative AI?

The structure of the deal — licensing plus joint product development, with participation limited to consenting artists — is likely to be scrutinized as a possible template for other rights holders. Rather than training on catalogs without permission or litigating after the fact, the UMG-ElevenLabs model starts from explicit consent and shares economics with the people whose recordings power the platform.

Grainge's comments positioned the deal within a broader ecosystem strategy at UMG, describing ElevenLabs as the newest partner in the company's efforts to expand what is creatively and commercially possible for human artistry. The emphasis throughout the announcement falls on AI as a layer on top of human creativity — remixes, interpretations and vocal experiences built from existing works — rather than fully autonomous music generation that bypasses artists altogether.

Whether that distinction holds in practice will depend on details yet to be announced: which artists opt in, how revenue is split, and how the platform prevents the creation of content that participating artists would object to. The companies did not release those terms.

What Happens Next

The platform is in development, with the companies committing only to additional products and fan experiences "in the months and years to come." As one of the world's largest music rights holders partners with one of the most prominent AI audio companies, the deal will be watched closely across both industries — by labels weighing whether to follow, by AI companies seeking legitimate training data, and by artists calculating whether participation serves them.

What is already clear is the direction of travel: after years in which the default relationship between the music industry and generative AI was adversarial, the largest deals in the space are now being signed rather than sued into existence.

---

Stay Ahead of AI

Get the latest AI news, analysis, and breakthroughs — all in one place.

Read more AI news →