Universal Music and ElevenLabs Team Up to Let Fans Remix Its Catalog With AI

Universal Music Group and ElevenLabs have signed a multi-year licensing deal to build an AI music platform where fans can create remixes, mashups, and new vocal takes from licensed tracks — with participating artists opting in and sharing in the value.

Universal Music Group and ElevenLabs have signed a multi-year licensing and product-development agreement — ElevenLabs' first with a major label — to build an AI music platform on licensed recordings and artists who choose to take part. Announced Thursday, the deal will let fans co-create with tracks from participating artists through remixes, mashups, new interpretations, and personalized vocal experiences.

UMG, the world's largest music company, is framing the partnership as a template for "responsible" AI that pays the artists and songwriters who opt in. "The most exciting possibilities for AI and music are those that put artists, songwriters, and fans at the center," said UMG chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge, who added that the deal unlocks "new revenue opportunities for the creative community." ElevenLabs cofounder and CEO Mati Staniszewski said combining UMG's rights-management expertise with ElevenLabs' audio models would let artists "create powerful new experiences for their fans, and ensure they are fairly compensated."

The new platform will be offered separately from ElevenLabs' existing products — its Music API and the ElevenMusic generation app. The agreement also covers "additional products and fan experiences in the months and years to come," though neither company detailed what those might be.

The announcement extends UMG's fast-growing roster of AI partnerships: the label is already developing a platform with Udio and has struck licensing deals with Spotify, Nvidia and Klay. It also lands in a busy week for licensed AI music, after Suno released its first AI music model trained on licensed songs from Warner Music Group, BMG and music industry partners. The industry's posture is shifting — from litigating generative music toward licensing it, with consent, credit and royalties written into the terms up front.

Sources: The Verge | Universal Music Group