Universal Music's New AI Lets You Remix Real Songs Legally
Finally, a way to mash up your favorite tracks without getting sued.
Universal Music Group — home to some of the biggest names in music — announced a new AI platform built with ElevenLabs, a company that makes AI tools for generating voices and music. Soon, fans will be able to take real, licensed songs from UMG's massive catalog and create their own remixes, mashups, or fresh takes on them. Think of it like a legal remix studio in your browser, backed by the actual record label.
The biggest twist is that artists get a say. Each musician can choose whether their music is available for these AI experiments. That's a huge shift from the earlier days of AI music, when artists often found their voices or songs cloned without permission. And because everything is licensed, artists are supposed to get fairly compensated — a key point ElevenLabs CEO Mati Staniszewski emphasized in the announcement.
This isn't UMG's first AI rodeo. The label already has an AI music project in the works with Udio, plus licensing deals with Spotify, Nvidia, and Klay. Meanwhile, rival label Warner Music Group just helped power Suno's first AI model trained on licensed songs. In other words, the music industry is racing to turn AI from a threat into a revenue stream.
What's still unclear? When the platform launches, how much it'll cost, and exactly how much control artists will have. UMG says more products and fan experiences are coming in the months and years ahead. For now, the message is clear: the music business has decided AI isn't going away — so they'd rather shape it than fight it.
- Universal Music is building an AI tool that lets fans remix and mash up real songs from its artists — legally.
- Artists can opt in or out, and the goal is to make sure they get paid when their music is used.
- This is part of a bigger trend: record labels like UMG and Warner are racing to partner with AI music companies instead of suing them.
Why It Matters
Fans may soon legally remix their favorite songs, while artists gain a new way to earn from AI.