AudioShake separates the song stems of classic Disney songs using artificial intelligence

Disney Music Group and AudioShake, an AI-based stem separation company, are joining forces. As part of their partnership, AudioShake will help Disney separate the individual instrument tracks (“stems”) for some of its classic songs and provide AI-based transcription of the lyrics.

According to a press release, Disney hopes this will unlock “new listening and fan engagement experiences” for the legendary catalog, which includes everything from the earliest recordings of Steamboat Willie (which is now in the public domain) to CinderellaTo The Lion King, to contemporary hits like High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.

Since many of Disney’s biggest hits were produced decades ago using now-obsolete recording technology, this new partnership will allow the company to use the music in new ways for the first time. For example, stem separation could help remix and remaster old audio files for classic Disney films. Disney could also use it to isolate the vocals or instrumentals of old hits.

Disney’s partnership with AudioShake began when the tech startup was selected for the Disney Accelerator 2024, a business development program designed to accelerate the growth of new companies around the world. Other participants included AI voice company Eleven Labs and autonomous vehicle company Nuro.

At the accelerator’s Demo Day 2024 on May 23, AudioShake gave a hint of what could happen in the partnership with Disney when AudioShake CEO, Jessica Powell, showed how Stem Separation could be used to muffle dialogue and music in the opening scene of Peter Pan.

Disney explained at Demo Day that many of their earlier recordings were missing the original stems and that this had limited their ability to use older hits for dubbing licenses, remastering and new formats such as immersive audio and lyric videos.

“We were deeply impressed by AudioShake’s sound separation technology and were among the first to adopt it,” says David AbdoSVP and General Manager of Disney Music Group. “We are excited to expand our existing stem separation work and integrate AudioShake’s lyrics transcription system. AudioShake is a great example of cutting-edge technology that can benefit our artists and songwriters, and the team at AudioShake is a fantastic partner.”

“Stems and lyrics are important assets that labels and artists can use to open up recordings to new musical experiences,” says Powell. “We are thrilled to deepen our partnership with Disney Music Group and are honored to work with their extensive and legendary catalog.”