Product1 publisher3 min readPublished
Universal licenses ElevenLabs to build a fan remix platform on artists who opt in
Universal's multi-year deal with ElevenLabs covers product development as well as rights, though the announcement does not name the participating artists, set a launch date or disclose terms, so the roster gets decided after signing.
The Product Desk · Product desk
What happened
- Universal Music Group and ElevenLabs signed a multi-year licensing agreement and will build a platform where fans make remixes, mashups, new interpretations and personalised vocal experiences from participating artists' tracks.
- The announcement leaves out the participating artists, the launch date and the financial terms, so how many artists say yes and what they are paid is unknown.
- ElevenLabs, the first AI audio company Universal has licensed, was founded by two Poles, and the Polish state took an $11mn stake in it earlier this year.
- Suno launched models trained on licensed catalogue from Warner and BMG in the same week, giving the majors two licensed AI music products to point at.
Compiled by The Product DeskSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- constraint Because coverage is agreed one artist at a time after signing, the product's usefulness is set by artist managers, and the size of the catalogue stays unknown to buyers and developers until it opens.
- decision Anyone shopping for music AI this quarter is still choosing between unlicensed products, since the licensed one is not purchasable and has no date.
- exposure ElevenLabs carries the labelling problem alone: AI Act transparency duties on synthetic voices of identifiable people are not discharged by a copyright licence from Universal.
- precedent For this class of product, Universal has moved from suing to distributing. The other majors will now be asked about that position.
The first screen that decides this product is a search box. A fan types the name of an artist, and whether the track is there gets settled after signing, one artist manager at a time, because the licence reaches whichever artists and songwriters opt in [2]. Universal and ElevenLabs have agreed the framework, and the negotiation over which recordings it covers comes later [4].
The agreement covers product development as well as licensing, and The Next Web reports it extends to further artist and fan products over the coming years [4]. The platform will be launched by ElevenLabs and will sit apart from the Music API and the ElevenMusic app the company already sells, both of which were built without a major-label licence [5][6]. Nothing a developer can buy this week changed [21]. ElevenLabs is not waiting on this for income either; Mati Staniszewski has been talking publicly about $600mn of revenue [8]. The parties who got something on day one are the two that signed: per The Next Web, the licensed product gives ElevenLabs something its rivals cannot offer developers, and it makes Universal a distribution partner [23].
Staniszewski said the two companies would "enable artists and songwriters to create powerful new experiences for their fans, and ensure they are fairly compensated" [10]. Sir Lucian Grainge, Universal's chairman and chief executive, said the companies "are aligned that responsible AI can inspire discovery, deepen engagement between artists and fans, and unlock new revenue opportunities for the creative community" [11]. The rate for that compensation is unstated, and the product in which the engagement would be measured does not exist yet [3].
Across the arrangements this announcement gathers up there are three licences and two live infringement matters [20]. The Next Web wrote that "the lawsuits set the price, and the deals collect it" [22]. Universal had already done an AI covers and remixes deal with Spotify, and the majors hold equity in AI companies including Stability [13]. Sony is suing Udio over 30,000 songs, and a German court has found that Suno infringed copyright [14].
Universal spent 2023 getting an AI-generated fake of two of its artists pulled from streaming services [15], and it is now licensing vocal work to the company whose technology, The Next Web reports, is reviving Stan Lee for digital cameos [16]. The publication reads that as the logic of the deal: synthetic vocals are going to exist, so a label wants them under licence, with artist consent and a payment attached. The alternative is an unlicensed track going viral [24].
The test worth applying before this reaches anyone's roadmap is one sentence with three blanks filled in: a fan can make [what] from [which artist] and keep it [where]. All three blanks are empty today. The Next Web reports that nobody has said who owns the output, how it is licensed onwards, or whether it can be uploaded to a streaming service [18].
What to watch
- The first named participating artist and songwriter, and the payment rate attached to them.
- Whether Sony, Warner or BMG sign ElevenLabs directly on comparable opt-in terms.
- How ElevenLabs labels a generated personalised vocal inside the consumer product.