Universal Music strikes strategic alliance with Stability AI to develop ‘next-generation’ AI music-making tools
FrankyNelly
Major AI music-related news just keeps rolling in.
Universal Music Group has now entered into a strategic alliance with Stability AI to develop “next-generation professional music creation tools.”
UMG said that these tools will be powered by “responsibly trained generative AI and built to support the creative process of artists, producers and songwriters globally”.
According to the announcement today (October 30), through this alliance, Stability AI’s research and product teams will “work closely with UMG and its artists to research artist needs and technical approaches for the next generation of music creation tools”.
It added: “Together, they will explore new recording and composition concepts, gather insights into artists’ needs, and better understand how artists adopt and engage with these technologies.”
The news marks Universal Music Group’s second significant AI music-making-related partnership in as many days. On Wednesday (October 29), UMG revealed that it has settled its copyright infringement lawsuit against AI music platform Udio. The companies also agreed to collaborate on a new platform featuring licensed AI music, slated to launch in 2026.
Stability AI, known for its Stable Diffusion image generator and Stable Audio AI music model, will work with UMG’s research and product teams to build software trained on licensed music catalogs.
The partnership with Stability AI will put UMG artists directly in the development process, gathering feedback on what creators need from AI-powered recording and composition tools, and “better understand how artists adopt and engage with these technologies.”
Through feedback with creators, UMG and Stability AI aim to create “fully licensed, commercially safe AI music tools” that “supports both artists and rightsholders while preserving the integrity of the art form”.
StabilityAI claims to be “the industry leader in commercially safe generative audio”. It said that its “Stable Audio family of models was built specifically for professionals and trained exclusively on licensed data to support responsible, high-quality music and sound generation”.
Commenting on the deal with Stability AI, Michael Nash, Chief Digital Officer & EVP, Universal Music Group, said: “This agreement is an extension of our fundamental orientation that our artists and songwriters are the cornerstone of our business.
“With AI, as with everything else we do, we start with what best supports our work to help them achieve creative and commercial success and build from that foundation to forge new and better commercial and creative opportunities.
“This agreement is an extension of our fundamental orientation that our artists and songwriters are the cornerstone of our business.”
Michael Nash, Universal Music Group
Added Nash: “And as we’ve made abundantly clear, we will only consider advancing AI tools and products based on models that are trained responsibly. We’re looking forward to working with Stability AI to deeply integrate AI tools development with the vision and creative ambitions of our artists and to the results and rewards this initiative offers to all.”
PremAkkaraju, CEO of Stability AI, added: “UMG has long been a leader in technological innovation in music. This partnership marks the next chapter of music creation.
“At Stability AI, we put the artist at the center and build AI around their unique needs because real transformation has always come from a combination of art and science.”
“UMG has long been a leader in technological innovation in music. This partnership marks the next chapter of music creation.”
Prem Akkaraju, Stability AI
UMG says its deals with Udio and Stability AI are among the “industry-first AI-related agreements” that it has struck with companies including YouTube, TikTok, Meta, KDDI, KLAY Vision, BandLab, Soundlabs and Pro-Rata, among others.
For Stability AI, the UMG deal follows its recent strategic partnership with Electronic Arts to develop generative AI tools for game development and with marketing firm WPP for advertising applications. The UMG deal extends its strategy into music production.
In July, Akkarajutold the Financial Times in an interview that Stability AI is looking at developing a marketplace where artists can license their work for AI training. The marketplace would reportedly allow creators to voluntarily submit artwork and receive compensation when AI companies use their content for model training.
Stability AI is currently facing multiple copyright infringement lawsuits. In one case, Seattle-based Getty Images sued Stability AI in both the UK and the US, alleging that the company illegally used 12 million images without permission or compensation.
Separately, illustrators Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, and Karla Ortiz filed a class action lawsuit in January 2023 against Stability AI and two other companies, challenging the use of their works for AI model training.
In August, Stability AI researchers said AI is creating “potentially new” music genres. “Before, musicians had to dedicate years to learn a specific genre. Now, AI can blend and produce music in multiple (and potentially new) genres,” the researchers found.
