Lyrics and music data company Musixmatch says it has signed AI licensing deals with the publishing arms of all three major music companies.
The deals with Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group and Warner Chappell Music give Musixmatch access to catalogs of over 15 million musical works, with which the company plans to develop new analytical tools and “non-generative AI services.”
“The deals establish Musixmatch as the first company to partner with three top music publishers and comprehensively commit to building new ethically trained services and revenue streams using authorized catalogs,” Musixmatch said in a statement on Wednesday (October 15).
According to a report at Billboard, the licensing deals are being done on a trial basis, and the music publishers will be compensated for the use of the catalogs.
Citing a source close to the deal, Billboard said the tools could include a large language model (LLM) that can analyze song lyrics and metadata, could be used to search the catalogs for a specific song. For instance, a movie studio looking for a song to license could ask the LLM for songs from a particular period with a particular theme.
Or it could be used for market analysis, by asking questions like “Why are love songs in decline?” or “What consumer brands were most frequently referenced in song lyrics last year?”
These tools would be “strictly gated and geared towards music business professionals,” Billboard reported.
“These agreements will ensure the writers of today and tomorrow are compensated for their creative works, not only in today’s marketplace, but also in the dynamic, AI-powered world that is rapidly emerging.”
Massimo Ciociola, Musixmatch
“We’re looking forward to this collaboration with our trusted partners to build and share entirely new revenue streams together,” Musixmatch Founder & CEO Massimo Ciociola said in a statement.
“Put simply: without songwriters, there can be no music industry. These agreements will ensure the writers of today and tomorrow are compensated for their creative works, not only in today’s marketplace, but also in the dynamic, AI-powered world that is rapidly emerging.”
Ciociola added: “Our long-standing partnerships with rights owners enable us to confidently build new services that will properly compensate songwriters while delivering value to music publishers and all who recognize the power of a song to move culture and provide meaning to our world.”
The Musixmatch deals come amid a growing effort in the music industry to have AI developers license the songs they use to train their AI models, rather than – as has often been the case – simply taking the content without authorization.
A recent report from the Financial Times said Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group could be just weeks away from signing licensing deals with major AI companies. Discussions have reportedly included AI firms like Stability AI, Suno, Udio, Klay Vision, and Eleven Labs, which is launching a new generative music tool built on music licensed from Merlin and Kobalt. Major tech companies like Google and Spotify are also said to be part of the licensing talks with the music companies.
Meanwhile, Swedish royalty collection society STIM recently launched what it says is the world’s first AI licensing system from a music rights society.
However, these licenses involve the use of music to train AI for generative purposes, i.e. creating music – something that Musixmatch stressed it doesn’t plan to do.
Italy-headquartered Musixmatch bills itself as the world’s largest lyrics and music data company, boasting partnerships with 225,000 publishers and some 3 million songwriters.
The company is currently embroiled in a legal dispute with rival lyrics provider LyricFind, which sued Musixmatch in a US federal court earlier this year, alleging that an exclusive lyrics licensing deal between Musixmatch and Warner Chappell Music violates US antitrust law.
The case was recently given the green light by a federal judge, who rejected much of Musixmatch’s petition to have the case dismissed.Music Business Worldwide
