Spotify adds Merlin to its AI-powered music remix and covers tool with opt-in artist participation

During its second-quarter earnings call, Spotify announced that Merlin, a licensing partner representing more than 30,000 independent labels and distributors, has joined Universal Music Group (UMG) in supporting the company’s upcoming AI-powered music remix and covers tool. The tool will allow fans to create AI-generated covers and remixes of participating artists’ music, provided the artists have opted in, received credit, and are compensated.

Spotify’s co-CEOs, Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström, emphasized the tool’s focus on consent, credit, and compensation during the call. Söderström stated, “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.” Norström added, “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 company framed its AI music product as distinct from controversial AI music startups, which have been criticized for creating fully artificial songs without artist involvement. Spotify’s tool is positioned as a legal alternative that centers real artists and their participation.

The new tool will launch as a paid add-on, creating an additional revenue stream for artists. Spotify previously indicated that a research preview would be made available to a subset of users, though the company did not specify when the preview would arrive or when the full tool would launch.

Spotify also noted that it would not require a full music catalog to get started, suggesting flexibility in the tool’s initial rollout. The company’s leadership argued that the product represents a necessary intervention in the AI music space, stating, “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.”