Universal Music Group and ElevenLabs announced on September 10 that they have agreed on a multi-year licensing arrangement and a broader strategic collaboration. The first result will be an AI music creation platform where fans can remix tracks by participating artists or rebuild them into new interpretations. For ElevenLabs, this is its first agreement with a major label.

A deal that did not start with a lawsuit

For the past few years, most of the large AI-and-music agreements have arrived alongside the settlement of a court case. Universal Music Group itself settled copyright infringement litigation with Udio in October 2025 and, at the same moment, signed a deal to jointly build a new service covering music creation, listening and streaming. A compensatory settlement plus fresh licenses on both the recorded music and publishing sides meant the end of a dispute and the start of a business arrived together.

ElevenLabs took the opposite order. When the company released its music generation model in August 2025, it already held licenses from Merlin, which represents independent labels, and from the publishing administrator Kobalt. Because it has consistently reached agreement with rights holders before shipping a product, this major-label deal reads as a continuation of an existing path rather than a course correction. In AI music, that sequence alone is unusual.

A place where fans move to the creating side

The new platform will be operated by ElevenLabs and is currently in development. According to both companies, fans will be able to do three broad things: create remixes and mashups of existing tracks, produce new interpretations that rearrange the original, and build personalized vocal experiences.

What matters is that the scope is limited to music from artists and songwriters who choose to take part. Rather than opening the entire catalog as raw material, the design assumes an explicit decision by the rights holder. Sir Lucian Grainge, chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group, framed responsible AI as something that can drive discovery, deepen the connection between artists and fans, and open new revenue opportunities for the creative community. Mati Staniszewski, cofounder and CEO of ElevenLabs, said that combining his company's models with Universal Music Group's rights management expertise would let artists and songwriters build new experiences for fans while being fairly compensated.

Fan-made derivative work has long existed in enormous volume outside any licensing process. Providing an official venue for it, with a path for returning value to rights holders, can be read as applying to AI generation the same route that user-upload platforms took before it.

Kept separate from the existing music products

ElevenLabs already has two music products. Music API is aimed at companies and developers in music technology, media and social platforms who want to embed generation into their own services. ElevenMusic is an app for producing original songs while specifying vocals, instrumentation, style and arrangement.

The companies stated clearly that the new platform will be offered separately from both. Products that generate music from scratch stay distinct from a service built on real, licensed recordings. Keeping the provenance of generated output clearly divided is a practical decision when later rights handling is taken into account.

Another partnership in a growing line

This is not an isolated move for Universal Music Group. In January 2026 the label announced a collaboration with NVIDIA, covering plans to extend the music model Music Flamingo for discovery, creative experiments using in-house facilities such as Abbey Road Studios and Capitol Studios, and an incubator where artists test new tools inside real production workflows. The Udio announcement also noted a track record of AI agreements with YouTube, TikTok, Meta and KDDI, among others.

The new agreement does not stop at the fan platform either. The two companies say they will jointly develop AI audio products for artists and songwriters and add further fan experiences over time. It is another confirmation that labels are shifting from defending rights to designing, together with AI companies, how those rights get used.

That said, neither a launch date nor pricing has been disclosed for the platform itself. Which artists will participate, how far generated tracks can be shared outside the service, and how revenue will be divided are all conditions that matter at the moment of actual use, and all of them are still ahead. Judging whether the structure works will have to wait until those details are visible.

Summary

Universal Music Group and ElevenLabs have agreed on a multi-year license and strategic collaboration, starting with an AI music platform that lets fans remix tracks by participating artists. It is ElevenLabs' first major-label agreement, and unlike earlier cases it was reached without litigation. The platform will be offered separately from the existing Music API and ElevenMusic, and AI audio products for artists are planned as a follow-up. Launch timing and the lineup of participating artists remain to be announced.

*The thumbnail image is AI generated and for illustration only