YouTube is now negotiating with record labels to license their songs for artificial intelligence tools that clone popular artists’ music. The aim is to win over a skeptical industry with upfront payments. This move comes as the music industry grapples with the legal and creative impact of AI.
The video sharing company needs the labels’ content to legally train AI song generators, as it plans to launch new tools this year, according to sources familiar with the matter. Recently, the Google-owned platform has offered substantial lump sums to major labels—Sony, Warner, and Universal—in an effort to persuade more artists to allow their music to be used in AI training.
However, many artists remain fiercely opposed to AI music generation, fearing it could undermine the value of their work. “The industry is wrestling with this. Technically, the companies have the copyrights, but we have to think through how to play it,” said an executive at a large music company. “We don’t want to be seen as Luddites.”
Last year, YouTube tested a generative AI tool named “Dream Track,” which lets users create short music clips by entering text prompts. The tool was designed to imitate the sound and lyrics of well-known singers. Despite its potential, only 10 artists, including Charli XCX, Troye Sivan, and John Legend, participated in the test phase, which was limited to a small group of creators.
This year, YouTube aims to enlist dozens of artists for a new AI song generator. However, the company clarified that Dream Track won’t be expanded and that they are in conversations with labels about other experiments.
These negotiations come as AI companies like OpenAI strike licensing deals with media groups to train large language models, the systems behind AI products like ChatGPT. Some of these deals are worth tens of millions of dollars to media companies.
In music, the deals being discussed are not blanket licenses but rather selective agreements with certain artists. Labels would need to encourage their artists to participate, making the final payment amounts from YouTube still undetermined.
The deals would resemble the one-off payments from social media companies like Meta or Snap to entertainment groups for access to their music, rather than the royalty-based arrangements labels have with Spotify or Apple.
YouTube’s new AI tool, which is unlikely to carry the Dream Track brand, could be integrated into YouTube’s Shorts platform, which competes with TikTok. Talks are ongoing, and deal terms could still change.
YouTube’s latest move coincides with leading record companies suing two AI start-ups, Suno and Udio, for allegedly using copyrighted recordings to train their AI models. A music industry group is seeking up to $150,000 per work infringed.
After facing the threat of extinction following the rise of Napster in the 2000s, music companies are trying to get ahead of disruptive technology this time around. Labels are keen to get involved with licensed products that use AI to create songs using their music copyrights—and get paid for it.
Sony Music, which did not participate in the first phase of YouTube’s AI experiment, is now negotiating to make some of its music available. Warner and Universal, whose artists were part of the initial test, are also in talks to expand the product.
In April, over 200 musicians, including Billie Eilish and the estate of Frank Sinatra, signed an open letter warning against unchecked AI. “Unchecked, AI will set in motion a race to the bottom that will degrade the value of our work and prevent us from being fairly compensated,” the letter stated.
YouTube emphasized its commitment to innovation, stating, “We are always testing new ideas and learning from our experiments. This is an important part of our innovation process. We will continue on this path with AI and music as we build for the future.”
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