Report: YouTube in talks with music labels to license music for AI song generator

According to a report in the Financial Times, YouTube is in talks with music labels about licensing songs for training artificial intelligence tools that clone songs by popular artists.

The platform is reportedly offering big-name music labels such as Universal Music, Warner and Sony a one-time payment instead of royalties. YouTube plans to launch new AI tools this year and needs the labels’ content to legally train AI song generators, sources told the broadcaster.

So far, musicians have largely rejected the use of artificial intelligence in music.

In a letter signed in April last year by more than 200 artists, including Billie Eilish and Frank Ocean, they expressed a clear stance against AI-generated music, saying it could prove “catastrophic to the livelihoods of many working musicians, artists and songwriters.”

(Subscribe to our tech newsletter, Today’s Cache, to get the day’s top technology news.)

Last year, YouTube began testing a generative AI tool called “Dream Track,” which helps people create short music clips by cloning popular artists with lyric prompts.

But only 10 artists, including Charli XCX, John Legend and Troye Sivan, agreed to sign up to the platform.

YouTube reportedly plans to sign “dozens” of artists to introduce the tool this year, the report says.

YouTube responded to the news by saying it was not interested in expanding Dream Track, but was in talks with labels about other projects.

Sources also revealed that the structure of these deals would be different from the licensing agreements previously signed with AI companies, as they would only apply to a select group of artists. Essentially, the labels would be responsible for encouraging artists to participate in these projects. The value of the deal would ultimately be determined based on the artists signed.

This month, major music labels including Universal, Sony and Warner sued two AI startups, Suno and Udio, for copyright infringement, claiming the companies were illegally using their music to train their AI models.

YouTube, on the other hand, may be hoping to appease the industry by offering fair payments instead. Sony, Warner and Universal are all in contact with YouTube to move negotiations forward, the report said.