The label’s multiyear licensing deal with ElevenLabs lets artists opt in to remixes, mashups, and new takes on licensed tracks.

Universal Music Group announced on Thursday that it is building an AI music platform with ElevenLabs, the voice and music generation company. The multiyear licensing agreement lets users draw on UMG’s licensed catalog to create remixes, mashups, and new takes on tracks.

Artists can choose whether to participate. UMG has also struck AI licensing deals with Spotify, NVIDIA, and Klay, and it is developing a separate platform with Udio. Suno released its first AI music model trained on licensed songs from Warner Music Group and BMG this week.

For builders, the deal signals that major labels will license catalog access rather than fight every generative model. Licensed catalog access and rights management become a competitive advantage for teams shipping music features, and artist opt-in terms shape what those products can ship.

ElevenLabs says the partnership will extend to additional products and fan experiences over the coming months and years, though the announcement offers few specifics. The new platform will stay separate from ElevenLabs’ Music API and its ElevenMusic generator.

What matters

• Universal Music Group will let users build remixes, mashups, and new versions from its licensed catalog.
• Builders gain licensed catalog and generation pathways, which lowers rights risk for commercial music tools.
• Watch whether artists opt in at scale and how UMG prices access across Spotify, NVIDIA, and Udio deals.

Why it matters

Watch whether artists opt in at scale and how UMG prices access across Spotify, NVIDIA, and Udio deals.

This GenAI News article was prepared in original wording using reporting and materials published by The Verge. Source reference: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/993465/universal-music-elevenlabs-ai.

Drafted by the GenAI News review pipeline.