Warner Music and Universal Music are set to sign a historic deal with artificial intelligence companies to use their songs. The music industry is entering a new era where humans and AI create together.
The music industry appears set to turn the page, with two of the world's biggest record labels, Warner Music and Universal Music, in final discussions with artificial intelligence (AI) companies about using their music in new projects. According to information from the Financial Times, the two companies are one step away from signing agreements that will define how their music will be used to train AI algorithms and create songs generated by artificial intelligence.
The potential partnership is seen as one of the most significant moves in recent years for the music industry. The companies are trying to avoid another “Napster-style shock” like the one that rocked the industry in the early 2000s, when piracy and uncontrolled file downloading forever changed the way we listened to music. This time, the labels seem determined to embrace the technology, but on terms that will protect creativity and copyright.
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Universal Music and Warner Music, which represent artists like Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, Charli XCX and Coldplay, are already in talks with big tech players like Google and Spotify, as well as up-and-coming companies like Stability AI, ElevenLabs, Suno, Udio and Klay Vision, to find a balanced partnership that allows AI companies to use music for education without violating copyright.
The discussions concern two main issues:
– Using existing songs to train artificial intelligence.
– The production of new songs with AI tools that often imitate the style or voice of well-known artists.
The record labels seem to be looking to implement a streaming-style payment system, where every time a song is used for training or producing music by AI, there will be automatic compensation. In other words, just as Spotify pays artists per stream, so too will AI companies pay each time they “borrow” music for their models.
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To make this possible, Warner and Universal are calling for the creation of a music content detection system, similar to YouTube's Content ID. Such a tool would be able to recognize when a song is being used and automatically calculate the compensation that should be paid. In this way, the companies aspire to ensure a fair and sustainable model for the future, in which human creativity and artificial intelligence can coexist.
This move is not only commercial but also strategic. Warner and Universal understand that AI is no longer a trend, but a new reality that is already changing the way we create and listen to music. They therefore want to actively participate in this transition and not be left behind, as happened in the past with the explosion of the internet.
Sources close to the negotiations say discussions are well advanced and deals could be announced in the coming weeks. The two companies see the partnership with artificial intelligence not as a threat, but as an opportunity to set new rules for the digital music era.
At the same time, the market is already flooded with songs created with AI, often without permission or proper attribution. According to French platform Deezer, almost a third of the songs uploaded online today were not written by humans, while Spotify revealed that in one year it removed 75 million tracks that were produced entirely by AI and were considered spam.
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The rise of these songs has the industry on edge. Artists are worried about their voice and style being “copied” by AI models, while record labels see their revenues at risk from a new “digital piracy” that is smarter than ever. The new agreements, therefore, are not only about music but also about protecting the identity of creators.
Despite the concerns, many in the industry believe collaboration is inevitable. Artificial intelligence can open up new avenues for music creation — from producing sounds that couldn’t be created otherwise, to composing songs in seconds. The challenge is to do so while respecting the art and the people behind it.
An executive from a major record label stated:
"We can't stop technology. But we can teach it to respect creators. This time, we want to be the ones who write the rules of the game."
Warner and Universal seem ready to make it happen. And if the new deals are finally signed, then the AI music era will not just be a technological development — but a revolution that will forever change the way we create, listen to, and perceive music.
