- UMG and ElevenLabs will build a platform for AI-powered remixes, mashups, and new track interpretations drawn from UMG's catalog, with artist and songwriter participation and compensation built into the model.
- It is ElevenLabs' first major-label licensing deal, struck roughly ten months after UMG settled with Udio in October 2025 and while the label's infringement suit against Suno is still live.
- UMG is positioning the service as distinct from ElevenLabs' existing music products, keeping fan creation inside a licensed, rights-managed system instead of an open model trained on unlicensed songs.
Universal and ElevenLabs will build a rights-cleared remix platform
Universal Music Group and ElevenLabs will jointly develop an AI music platform built on UMG's licensed catalog, giving fans tools to produce remixes, mashups, new track interpretations, and personalized vocal experiences from recordings they are not otherwise allowed to manipulate. The companies described it as a multi-year strategic agreement that starts with this platform and extends into further products and fan experiences. Participation is opt-in for artists and songwriters, with compensation flowing to the creators whose work powers each feature.
The companies disclosed neither a launch date nor financial terms, and both stressed that the offering will be distinct from the music products ElevenLabs already sells. That separation is the structural choice worth noting. Rather than license the catalog into a general-purpose generator, UMG is ring-fencing fan creation inside a controlled, rights-managed product where every input is cleared and every output traces back to a paying license.
The most exciting possibilities for AI and music are those that put artists, songwriters, and fans at the center. Responsible AI can inspire discovery, deepen engagement between artists and fans, and unlock new revenue opportunities for the creative community.Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO, Universal Music Group, in the September 10, 2026 announcement
Why Universal is licensing the technology it spent two years fighting
Universal sued Suno and Udio in 2024 for training their generative AI music models on copyrighted recordings without permission, and its stance has shifted markedly since. UMG settled with Udio in October 2025 and agreed to build a licensed service with the same company, and the ElevenLabs partnership extends that pattern to a well-funded AI voice and audio lab that the label never took to court. The throughline is control: UMG now prefers to set the terms of AI music creation rather than litigate it after the fact.
| First | ElevenLabs' first licensing deal with a major record label |
| Catalog | UMG recordings, with artist and songwriter participation on an opt-in basis |
| At launch | AI remixes, mashups, new track interpretations, personalized vocal experiences |
| Scope | Multi-year strategic agreement spanning licensing and product development |
| Backdrop | Roughly ten months since UMG settled its Udio suit in October 2025 |
The contrast with where UMG started is stark enough to lay out plainly.
| Litigation posture (2024) | Licensing posture (2026) |
|---|---|
| Sued Suno and Udio over unlicensed training | Partners with Udio and ElevenLabs on licensed products |
| Treated AI generation as infringement to stop | Treats AI creation as a revenue surface to control |
| Catalog used without consent or payment | Catalog used under opt-in, compensated terms |
| Outcome decided by courts | Outcome decided by commercial agreements |
The question the deal leaves open
UMG is trying to make licensed AI the default before unlicensed AI becomes one, and ElevenLabs gives it a partner with the models to do it at scale. The harder question is whether the artists and songwriters whose work trains these features see the arrangement as protection or as a standard they cannot realistically decline, a tension already in the open after the American Federation of Musicians sued UMG and Warner over the AI settlements struck in their members' name. Universal has decided that the safest place to stand in the AI music fight is as the party writing the contracts, and this deal is the clearest statement yet of that bet.
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