Universal Music Group (UMG) and Stability AI, a pioneering AI company, have announced a strategic partnership to develop music creation tools that harness the power of "responsibly" trained generative AI. The collaboration aims to support artists, producers, and songwriters by integrating AI into their creative process while ensuring commercial safety and proper licensing.
This alliance follows UMG's recent agreement with Udio, which included a legal settlement over copyright infringement and a licensing deal that compensates artists for both AI training and outputs. UMG has been a pioneer in AI innovation, forging partnerships with platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Meta while actively defending artists' rights against unauthorized AI training.
Stability AI, known for its two-year-old Stable Audio models, specializes in generating high-quality, licensed music using text-to-audio technology. Their models are trained on professional datasets such as Audio Sparx, offering control over audio generation through "latent diffusion" โ a technique first introduced in their image-based Stable Diffusion product.
This partnership marks the next chapter in music creation, with Stability AI putting the artist at the center and building AI around their unique needs. According to Michael Nash, UMG's chief digital officer, "The agreement is an extension of our fundamental orientation that our artists and songwriters are the cornerstone of our business." He added that UMG will only consider advancing AI tools and products based on models that are trained responsibly.
Prem Akkaraju, CEO of Stability AI, described the partnership as a significant milestone in music creation. "We put the artist at the center and build AI around their unique needs because real transformation has always come from a combination of art and science."
This alliance follows UMG's recent agreement with Udio, which included a legal settlement over copyright infringement and a licensing deal that compensates artists for both AI training and outputs. UMG has been a pioneer in AI innovation, forging partnerships with platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Meta while actively defending artists' rights against unauthorized AI training.
Stability AI, known for its two-year-old Stable Audio models, specializes in generating high-quality, licensed music using text-to-audio technology. Their models are trained on professional datasets such as Audio Sparx, offering control over audio generation through "latent diffusion" โ a technique first introduced in their image-based Stable Diffusion product.
This partnership marks the next chapter in music creation, with Stability AI putting the artist at the center and building AI around their unique needs. According to Michael Nash, UMG's chief digital officer, "The agreement is an extension of our fundamental orientation that our artists and songwriters are the cornerstone of our business." He added that UMG will only consider advancing AI tools and products based on models that are trained responsibly.
Prem Akkaraju, CEO of Stability AI, described the partnership as a significant milestone in music creation. "We put the artist at the center and build AI around their unique needs because real transformation has always come from a combination of art and science."