The Technology Is Built. The Licensing Isn’t.
Spotify says the technology to let fans remix, cover, and interact with their favorite songs using AI already exists. The real obstacle isn’t innovation — it’s licensing. Speaking on the company’s February 10, 2026 Q4 earnings call, Co-CEO Gustav Söderström made clear that the future of AI-powered music derivatives depends on building a formal rights framework that works for artists and rightsholders.
Söderström divided AI music into two categories: entirely new tracks created from scratch and AI “derivatives” of existing songs. It’s the second category that excites Spotify most. “Everything we see tells us listeners want to interact with their favorite music and many artists want to let them, creating new revenue from their existing catalog,” he said. Spotify, he added, already has “the technology and capabilities ready to unlock this in a way that is additive for both IP rightsholders and Spotify.” The problem? “The absence of a rights framework has kept AI mostly focused on… net new creation.”
A Growing Industry Divide: Walled Gardens vs. Open Studios
The debate over how AI music should function is intensifying across the industry. Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl recently predicted that “superfan tiers of the future will all include AI functionality to create,” calling creation “the ultimate expression of fandom.”
Meanwhile, Universal Music Group has advocated for tighter controls around AI-generated derivatives. Executive Michael Nash warned that without platform restrictions, users could “effectively use artists’ content and their brand to create derivatives where you’re going to compete with the artist on other platforms.” AI companies like Suno take a different approach. Chief Music Officer Paul Sinclair has pushed for “open studios, not walled gardens,” arguing for creative freedom within licensed systems.
Spotify’s Middle-Ground Strategy
Spotify appears to be positioning itself between these extremes. Co-CEO Alex Norström emphasized that the company “will not do deals that aren’t good for artists,” while highlighting that the platform already hosts “the largest royalty pool.” Rather than promoting unrestricted distribution, Spotify is suggesting that AI-powered interaction should live within its ecosystem — where fans, data, and monetization infrastructure already exist.
The company is also leaning into transparency and moderation. After deleting 75 million “spammy tracks” last September, Söderström acknowledged AI could accelerate low-quality uploads, but argued it’s “just more scale on an existing problem.” Spotify is working on clearer metadata standards so listeners can understand how songs were made.
Spotify believes AI-powered interaction with music is inevitable — and potentially lucrative for artists. But until labels, platforms, and AI firms agree on licensing rules, monetization models, and distribution boundaries, large-scale AI remixes remain on hold. The technology may be ready, but the rulebook is still being written.
About the Author
