Universal Music Group is officially stepping into the AI era, announcing a new collaboration with music tech startup Udio that ends their legal battle and paves the way for a licensed AI music creation and streaming platform set to launch in 2026.
The joint platform will be trained entirely on music that’s authorized and licensed, combining AI-powered music creation, fan interaction, and streaming in one destination. UMG’s goal is to give artists control and compensation while expanding how music is made and experienced. For those who are unfamiliar, Udio is a generative artificial intelligence model that can create music based on basic text prompts. This has caused a wave of backlash from artists and consumers.
For now, Udio’s existing product stays live but inside a restricted environment in the upcoming app, supported by tools like fingerprinting and content filtering to keep rights secure. UMG sees this partnership as a move to unlock new revenue opportunities for its artists and songwriters through fresh licensing models.
Calling it an “artist-first” innovation, UMG chairman Sir Lucian Grainge said the move will “foster a healthy commercial AI ecosystem.”
The announcement also includes a new strategic alliance between UMG and Stability AI to develop professional music creation tools using ethically trained generative AI systems. While Sony Music and Warner Music are still in active lawsuits with Udio, and the major labels continue legal action against another AI platform, Suno, UMG is now charting a different course.
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