Universal Music Group partners with ElevenLabs to launch AI music creation platform

Sep 10, 2026

Universal Music Group and ElevenLabs have announced a multi-year licensing agreement to launch a new AI-powered music creation platform. The standalone platform will allow fans to create remixes, mashups, and personalized vocal experiences using licensed tracks from artists who choose to opt in. The deal represents ElevenLabs' first major-label partnership, signaling a shift toward proactive, consent-based licensing in the music industry, even as legal challenges persist for independent and session musicians.

UMG-ElevenLabs licensing agreement

▪The licensing agreement is ElevenLabs' first deal with a major record label.
▪The upcoming platform will be launched by ElevenLabs as a standalone product, separate from its existing Music API and ElevenMusic generator.
▪The upcoming AI music platform is currently in development with no announced launch date, pricing, or list of participating artists.
▪Universal Music Group and ElevenLabs announced a multi-year licensing agreement on September 10, 2026, to launch a new AI-powered music creation platform.

Fan remix platform features

▪The platform will operate under the EU AI Act's Article 50 transparency obligations, which took effect on August 2, 2026, requiring disclosures for synthetic voices of identifiable people.
▪The upcoming platform will allow music fans to create remixes, mashups, new track interpretations, and personalized vocal experiences.
▪The platform's 'personalized vocal experiences' feature will leverage ElevenLabs' voice cloning technology to let fans generate content using participating artists' voices.

ElevenLabs voice synthesis technology

▪ElevenLabs launched its Music v2 model in May 2026, which generates studio-grade tracks from text prompts and is trained on licensed data from Merlin and Kobalt.
▪ElevenLabs surpassed $500 million in annual recurring revenue by April 2026 and was valued at $11 billion following its Series D funding round in February 2026.
▪ElevenLabs' voice synthesis technology extracts an acoustic embedding from a short reference audio clip to generate a synthetic voice that mimics the original speaker.

Music industry AI licensing

▪The American Federation of Musicians filed a lawsuit against Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group on June 5, 2026, alleging unauthorized licensing of session musician performances.
▪Suno launched its v6 AI music models on September 9, 2026, trained on licensed catalog material from Warner Music Group, BMG, and Believe.
▪Sony Music remains in active litigation with AI music platforms, having filed a second lawsuit against Udio on July 20, 2026, asserting 30,117 additional sound recordings.
▪Universal Music Group has established a broader AI ecosystem, including partnerships with Udio, Stability AI, Spotify, Nvidia, Klay, and Hook.

Artist opt-in compensation model

▪Independent musicians are not covered by the major-label AI licensing agreements, leading to class-action lawsuits against Suno and Udio starting in October 2025.
▪Participation in the Universal Music Group and ElevenLabs platform is strictly opt-in for artists and songwriters, ensuring they are compensated for their licensed music.

Debatable claims

▪AI-generated music should carry mandatory disclosures even when fully licensed
▪Major-label AI licensing agreements unfairly exclude independent and session musicians
▪Universal Music Group should license its artists' voices for AI music platforms