Courtrooms have given way to contract tables in the music industry’s argument with generative AI, and the biggest label just signed again. Universal Music Group and ElevenLabs agreed a multi-year licensing and product deal on September 10, the first ElevenLabs has struck with a major label.
A fan-facing platform sits in the middle of it, still in development. Fans would make remixes, mashups, new readings of existing tracks and personalized vocal performances, drawn from music by artists and songwriters who opt in. ElevenLabs plans to launch it as a separate product from the lines it already sells.
Those lines are Music API, which licenses studio-grade music models to businesses and developers, and ElevenMusic, an app for generating and editing original songs with control over vocals, instrumentation, style and arrangement.
Consent and payment frame the whole arrangement. Chairman and chief executive Lucian Grainge welcomed ElevenLabs into the label’s partner network, arguing that AI delivers most when fans, songwriters and artists sit at the center of it rather than at the edges. Cofounder and chief executive Mati Staniszewski said UMG’s audience reach and rights management would pair with ElevenLabs models, creating fan experiences while paying creators fairly.
The backdrop is an industry consolidating around licences rather than lawsuits. Suno has moved toward licensed catalogs and added watermarking. A German court ruled its earlier training unlawful. Independent labels signed AI cover arrangements of their own through Merlin.
