Universal Music Group and ElevenLabs are launching a licensed AI music platform allowing participating artists’ music to be remixed, reimagined and experienced in new ways.

Universal Music Group is taking another major step into AI music, announcing a multi-year partnership with ElevenLabs that will see the companies develop a new AI-powered music creation platform.

The platform, which will be launched by ElevenLabs, is being built around licensed music and artist participation, giving fans new ways to interact with music from participating UMG artists. Users will eventually be able to create remixes, mashups, new interpretations of tracks and personalised vocal experiences.

The agreement, announced on September 10, is ElevenLabs’ first major-label licensing deal and goes beyond simply allowing the company to use UMG’s catalogue. The two companies will also work together on developing new AI audio products for artists, songwriters and fans.

A new approach to AI music

The partnership marks another significant shift in how major music companies are approaching generative AI.

Rather than allowing an AI company to build products around music without a formal licensing agreement, UMG and ElevenLabs are creating a system where participating artists and songwriters are part of the process from the beginning.

UMG says the collaboration is designed around the idea that AI music innovation should respect human creativity while allowing artists and songwriters to share in the value created by new technology.

Exactly how artists will be compensated has not yet been fully detailed, and the platform is still in development. However, the decision to make artist participation a central part of the service could prove important as the industry continues working out what a licensed AI music economy looks like.

Fans will be able to remix and reinterpret music

Rather than simply generating entirely new songs from text prompts, the upcoming platform appears to be focused heavily on creative interaction with existing music.

Fans will be able to work with music from participating artists to create remixes, mashups and alternative interpretations. Personalised vocal experiences are also planned, although the companies have not yet revealed exactly what those experiences will involve.

That makes the platform somewhat different from AI music generators such as Suno, where users can create original tracks from prompts.

Instead, the ElevenLabs-UMG platform could give fans a more direct way to play with music they already know, effectively turning officially licensed recordings into a new type of interactive experience.

The companies have also stressed that the new platform will be separate from ElevenLabs’ existing Music API and ElevenMusic products.

UMG is increasingly embracing licensed AI

The announcement comes during a particularly busy period for AI and the music industry.

Universal has been involved in a number of AI-related licensing discussions as record companies increasingly move towards negotiated agreements with technology companies. The ElevenLabs partnership follows UMG’s previous AI collaborations and forms part of a broader strategy to develop new opportunities around music and artificial intelligence.

Warner Music Group has also recently partnered with Suno, which has launched its new V6 generation of AI music models using licensed music from participating partners. Suno says its future products will include opt-in opportunities allowing artists to participate and earn revenue.

The pattern is becoming increasingly clear: major labels that once primarily approached generative AI through copyright disputes are now looking at how licensed AI products could create new revenue streams.

What could this mean for artists?

For independent artists, the most interesting part of the ElevenLabs deal may be the emphasis on artist participation.

The industry is still working out what rights artists should have when AI interacts with their recordings, voices and musical identities. Recent disputes have highlighted concerns from musicians and unions that recordings could be used to develop commercial AI systems without performers receiving additional compensation.

Licensed platforms offer a potential alternative, where the rights holders can negotiate the terms before the technology is made available to users.

For artists outside the major-label system, this could also create pressure for the wider industry to develop clearer licensing models. If fans increasingly expect to remix, reinterpret and interact with official recordings using AI, independent artists and labels may eventually have opportunities to license their own catalogues into similar experiences.

At the same time, questions remain around how revenue will be divided, which artists will be eligible to participate and what happens to the rights in AI-generated or AI-assisted creations.

AI music is becoming less about replacement and more about interaction

One of the most notable aspects of the announcement is the way UMG and ElevenLabs are positioning AI.

Rather than presenting the technology solely as a way of generating music without musicians, the companies are talking about new fan experiences and new forms of creativity built around existing artists.

That could become an increasingly important direction for the music industry. AI tools don’t necessarily have to compete directly with human-made music; they can also become another layer through which audiences discover, remix and interact with artists.

For independent musicians, that shift is worth watching closely. As major labels establish licensed partnerships with AI companies, the rules around AI-generated music, artist participation and rights management are likely to become clearer.

Universal and ElevenLabs say their relationship will extend beyond the initial platform, with further AI audio products and fan experiences planned for the coming months and years.

The platform itself is still in development, so there is plenty still to learn about how it will work in practice. But with UMG putting licensed music and participating artists at the centre of the project, the partnership is another strong indication that licensed AI music is becoming a major part of the industry’s next chapter.

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