UMG Partners With Stability AI to Develop AI Music Generation Tools

Universal Music Group (UMG) has announced another partnership with a major AI company. This time, the major label is working on “the creation of fully licensed, commercially safe AI music tools,” alongside Stability AI, an AI company best known for its text-to-image program, Stable Diffusion.

UMG X Stability AI:

• Stability AI’s research and product teams are working directly with UMG artists to see how these new tools can best serve the creative process.

• Tools are being developed to support recording and composition.

Background:

• UMG has been making big moves in the realm of AI recently.

• The major label just came to an agreement with the AI music company Udio and announced a partnership with Spotify for developing AI tools.

• This comes after the company announced sweeping AI policies as well.

• Stability AI has been conscious of ethical AI use in previous practices. For example, its Stable Audio function was built entirely on licensed data.

What they said:

• Michael Nash, Chief Digital Officer & EVP, Universal Music Group: “This agreement is an extension of our fundamental orientation that our artists and songwriters are the cornerstone of our business. With AI, as with everything else we do, we start with what best supports our work to help them achieve creative and commercial success and build from that foundation to forge new and better commercial and creative opportunities.”

• Prem Akkaraju, CEO of Stability AI: "UMG has long been a leader in technological innovation in music. This partnership marks the next chapter of music creation. At Stability AI, 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.”