Photo Credit: ElevenLabs
AI audio-generation platform ElevenLabs has announced a new model allowing users to generate music it claims is already cleared for commercial use. But will opt-in, limited-scope deals with Kobalt, Merlin, and SourceAudio suffice?
AI unicorn ElevenLabs is having a big week, revealing new partnerships and models for public use. On Tuesday, the company revealed its latest tool, an AI music generator that it claims is already cleared for commercial use. The move marks ElevenLabs’ major expansion beyond just building AI audio tools since its launch three years ago.
But it’s been a difficult slope to climb for AI companies like ElevenLabs, given widescale concerns about the material AI generation tools are trained on. Last year, AI companies Suno and Udio were both sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) with allegations they trained their music-generation models on copyrighted material without prior clearance. Now, both companies have been discussing licensing deals with the major labels, without any resolutions announced.
ElevenLabs suddenly has deals with Merlin Network and Kobalt Music Group—which encompasses a vast amount of independent music and notable publishing and recording catalogs—to use their materials for AI training. Merlin represents serious indie labels and major artists like Adele, Mitski, and Phoebe Bridgers, while Kobalt’s catalog encompasses artists like Beck, Bon Iver, and Childish Gambino.
But according to details tipped to DMN late Tuesday, these are currently limited deals with stringent requirements and scant participation — at least right now.
Notably, artists and songwriters represented by Merlin and Kobalt must opt in to have their works used for training ElevenLabs’ AI models. In exchange, they will receive royalties as determined by a pro-rated payout system based on how much their music is used. The math on those payouts remains unclear, though the opt-in option is currently limited to those whose master recordings and publishing copyrights are 100% controlled — no partial ownership is yet permitted.
That last bit is a major limitation on opt-in participation, particularly given the shared ownership on a large percentage of sought-after tracks.
Kobalt has also reportedly negotiated a “most favored nations” clause, which ensures they always get the best pro-rated payout deal for their artists, publishers, and IP owners. However, the company also said that ElevenLabs outputs can’t directly copy an artist’s lyrics, song elements, or other aspects; it can only be used for training AI models.
In other words: now you need a compliance cop to make sure the ‘ingestion’ doesn’t become ‘duplication’.
“Our clients benefit directly from this agreement in several key ways: it opens a new revenue stream in a growing market, includes revenue sharing so they participate in the upside, provides strong safeguards against infringement and misuse, and offers favorable terms comparable to other publishing and recording rightsholders,” a representative from Kobalt told TechCrunch, stressing that artists must voluntarily opt in for their music to be licensed for AI use.
Perhaps most importantly, deals remain forthcoming with major labels Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, and Sony Music Entertainment, as well as major catalog tranches like Blackstone-owned Recognition Music Group. That is, if those mega-owners are even at the table.
Leaving the ‘big three’ till last could be a fatal error, particularly since WMG, UMG, and Sony aren’t afraid of litigating to protect their IP. Currently, it’s unclear if ElevenLabs is making any headway with these rights owners. Also unclear is whether ElevenLabs is training on said majors’ catalogs, which would be a giant ‘no bueno’ and negotiation killer.
In an expansion of its ethical AI music initiatives, ElevenLabs also selected SourceAudio as its preferred music licensing partner.
SourceAudio, a leading sync platform with more than 4,000 music catalogs and 14 million pre-cleared tracks, will provide ElevenLabs with seamless, large-scale access to high-quality songs for responsible AI training. But even in the case of SourceAudio, it’s unclear if every track is usable.
“Our AI dataset licensing solution connects forward-thinking AI companies with a vast network of rights-cleared music hosted on our platform,” Andrew Harding, CEO and co-founder of SourceAudio said last month.
