During its recent second-quarter earnings call, Spotify once again hinted at an innovative new product. This forthcoming offering will empower music enthusiasts to utilize artificial intelligence for creating covers and remixes of artists' tracks, crucially, with the explicit permission of the artists involved.
The company further revealed that Merlin, a significant licensing partner representing independent labels and distributors, has officially joined Universal Music Group (UMG) in this pioneering AI music initiative. This collaboration is substantial, integrating over 30,000 labels from Merlin's extensive network into the product, thereby facilitating fan-created covers and remixes from a wider array of artists who opt into the program.
Spotify is deliberately positioning its AI music product as distinct from the more contentious AI music startups, which have garnered criticism for generating entirely artificial songs. Co-CEO Gustav Söderström underscored this difference to investors on Tuesday's call, stating that Spotify’s AI music offering is centered on “real artists, not fake artists.”
“We want artists to be consenting [to add] their work into this catalog, so people can play around with covers and remixes based on their art,” elaborated co-CEO Alex Norström. He continued, “We also obviously want to give them credit. And last but not least…we not only have the consent and give credit, but we also drive the compensation for this. So, really, we’re talking about the first legal way to partake in this AI tailwind that we see coming for interactive music.”
The prevalence of AI-generated music across streaming services is undeniable. Recently, music streamer Deezer highlighted a significant surge, reporting that over 50% of daily track uploads were created using AI, a sharp increase from 10% observed in January 2025.
Investors were informed that an initial research preview of the fan remix and cover product would be rolled out to a select group of users. Spotify also clarified that the initiative would not necessitate a complete music catalog to commence operations. The company, however, refrained from specifying a launch date for this preview.
This innovative tool is slated to launch as a paid add-on, a move Spotify had previously indicated would establish an additional revenue stream for participating artists.
Söderström emphasized the uniqueness of their offering: “Our remix and covers I think is an incredibly exciting product again because there is no one else that can really do this.” He further explained its necessity: “Normal generative music will happen with or without us. This product will not happen without us, and it needs to exist so that existing artists can participate in this.”
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