Just days after AI music company Suno released its first model trained on material from major record labels with their permission, one of the few holdout labels, Universal Music Group, has entered the fray with its own project. As part of a partnership with AI audio startup ElevenLabs, the label announced that it is launching an AI-powered platform that will let users remix songs.
There aren’t a lot of details about the platform—they don’t even give it a name, and it’s still in development—but it will be a part of a multi-year partnership between the label and the AI company. In a press release, UMG described the planned platform as a tool to “give fans new ways to co-create with music from participating artists and songwriters, including through remixes and mashups, new track interpretations, and personalized vocal experiences.”
UMG said the platform would be separate from ElevenLabs’ existing music products, including Eleven Music, its Suno-like AI music generator. The fan-facing platform will be just one part of the partnership, which is expected to produce additional tools for artists and songwriters.
”By combining UMG’s global community and rights management expertise with our AI models and products, we’ll enable artists and songwriters to create powerful new experiences for their fans, and ensure they are fairly compensated,” ElevenLabs CEO Mati Staniszewski said in a press release.
This is UMG’s second big foray into AI-generated music. Earlier this year, the label teamed up with Spotify to launch a similar tool designed to let fans create remixes of songs. Last month, Spotify expanded that planned service to include licensor Merlin, though the company has not made the actual tool available yet.
It’s been a very musical week in the world of AI. As previously mentioned, Suno just dropped its first model that was made with data licensed from music labels, including big players like Warner Music Group. The company was previously accused of using copyrighted material owned by labels and artists without permission, so who knows if the actual underlying material is that different, but its legality is theoretically more on the level. Warner sued Suno over its alleged training practices in 2024, then settled the case in 2025 and immediately signed a licensing agreement that opened the door for Suno to train its models on WMG music.
In a way, we’re back at the start of the streaming wars, except this time, instead of all of the labels immediately surrendering their material to Spotify and letting it become a behemoth, the labels are exploring ways to capitalize on their catalogues. It’s a shame it’s seemingly coming at the expense of the actual artists, who will see their work turned into training data and modifiable material rather than just being the art as intended. But hey, all these artists are going to get rich, right? Right?
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