Musicbusinessworldwide.com
Spotify is adding another major music-industry partner to its plans for AI-generated covers and remixes, signing a licensing agreement with Kobalt that will allow participating songwriters to benefit when fans use their work creatively on the platform.
Announced August 13, the deal marks Spotify’s first agreement for the forthcoming AI feature with a music publisher outside Universal Music Group. It follows Spotify’s agreement with Merlin earlier this month and the company’s larger partnership with UMG, announced in May.
The planned tool will arrive as a paid feature for Spotify Premium subscribers. The service is being designed around licensed AI covers and remixes.
Consent is central to the strategy, allowing artists the freedom to decide whether or not they participate.
The company has molded their approach around “consent, credit and compensation,” saying artists and rights holders should actively choose whether their work enters the catalog available for AI experimentation.
The UMG arrangement uses an opt-in system, while Merlin’s deal covers approximately 30,000 independent labels, with individual artists able to decide whether their catalogs participate. Spotify and Kobalt have not yet detailed how the publisher’s system will handle songs with multiple writers or rights holders.
Kobalt already has experience licensing music for AI applications, including agreements with ElevenLabs and Udio. Its publishing business represents more than one million songs worldwide.
Spotify has yet to announce a release date or price for the new creative feature. A research preview will first be made available to a limited group of users, with a wider launch coming once the product is ready.
The move places Spotify at the center of a rapidly developing licensing landscape. Major publishers and technology companies are increasingly pursuing agreements that allow AI music tools to operate with permission, even as other disputes continue in court.
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