Spotify and Universal Music Group have announced a major recorded-music and music-publishing licensing agreements that will enable Spotify to launch a new tool allowing fans to create covers and remixes of their favourite songs from participating artists and songwriters.
The tool will be powered by generative AI technology that the announcement states “will open up additional revenue streams and new ways to drive discovery.”
The announcement continues, “It introduces a creation model where artists and songwriters can directly share in the value generated through AI-driven licensed covers and remixes on the Spotify platform.”
The new tool will launch as a paid add-on for Spotify Premium users, creating an additional source of income for artists and songwriters, the announcement states.
The collaboration is clearly an effort to harness and monetise the use of AI to create new versions of copyrighted songs, and provide a prominent and relatively controllable platform for their use.
The announcement was made at the company’s investor meeting on Thursday, during which it also announced a plan to provide access to concert tickets for Premium users called Spotify Reserved.
In partnership with Live Nation, starting in the U.S. this year certain artists will be able to use Reserved to set aside tickets for fans on the platform. Spotify will use streams, shares and other types of activity to “identify an artist’s most dedicated fans and hold two tour tickets for them.” Fans will have a day-long window to make a ticket purchase if selected. The streaming giant provided no further details and noted that “there will be significantly more superfans than there are seats available on a tour, so not every fan will receive an offer”; its previous efforts to get involved with ticketing were not a major success.
Love Film & TV?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in music, film and TV in Australia and abroad.
Speaking on the UMG partnership, Spotify co-CEO Alex Norström says, “Solving hard problems for music is what Spotify does, and fan-made covers and remixes are next. What we’re building is grounded in consent, credit, and compensation for the artists and songwriters that take part. Through each technological transformation, we have worked together with [UMG chairman Lucian Grainge] and his team to evolve the music ecosystem into a richer, more beneficial experience for fans and a more rewarding outcome for artists and songwriters.”
UMG Chairman-CEO Lucian Grainge adds, “The most valuable innovations in the music business always bring artists and fans closer together. That principle is at the heart of this pioneering AI-enabled superfan initiative, which is designed to support human artistry, deepen fan relationships, and create additional revenue opportunities for artists and songwriters. Building on our long track record of leading the industry through technology changes, and collaborating with the team at Spotify, this initiative is firmly artist-centric, rooted in responsible AI, and will drive growth for the entire ecosystem.”
From Variety US