YouTube Proposes AI Music Licensing to Major Record Labels

After launching a generative AI feature last year that creates music in the styles of famous artists like Charli XCX, John Legend, and T-Pain, YouTube is now requesting permission from major record labels to clone more musicians. According to the Financial Times, the Google-owned video platform is offering Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Records substantial lump sum payments in exchange for licensing their songs to legally train its AI music tools.

YouTube informed the Financial Times that it doesn’t intend to expand its current AI project, Dream Track, which was initially supported by just ten artists during its test phase. However, it confirmed that it is in discussions with labels about other experimental projects. The platform aims to license music from “dozens” of artists, which will be used to train new AI tools set to launch later this year. While the exact fees YouTube is willing to pay for these licenses haven’t been disclosed, reports suggest these will likely be one-off payments rather than ongoing royalty-based arrangements.

Convincing both artists and their representing labels may be challenging. Sony Music has repeatedly warned AI companies against the “unauthorized use” of its content, and UMG had previously considered pulling its entire music catalog from TikTok due to insufficient protections against AI-generated music, causing licensing negotiations to stall. Additionally, in January, over 200 artists — including Billie Eilish, Pearl Jam, and Katy Perry — demanded that tech companies stop using AI in ways that “infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists.”

This news follows just days after the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), representing labels like Sony, Warner, and Universal, filed copyright infringement lawsuits against two leading generative AI music companies. The RIAA alleges that Suno and Udio produced outputs using “unlicensed copying of sound recordings on a massive scale,” seeking damages of up to $150,000 per infringement.