Spotify says it is filtering AI-generated 'slop and spam' tracks out of its recommendation system while continuing to host AI music and offer AI remixing tools. Fake or AI-suspected acts like The Velvet Sundown and Breaking Rust still have hundreds of thousands of monthly listeners, with a July report finding the top 10 AI artists earned roughly $2.4 million. Spotify does not offer users a way to block AI audio entirely, unlike Deezer, which plans a full opt-out filter by year's end, or Bandcamp and Tidal, which restrict or don't pay royalties on AI-only tracks.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-20
Apple's deal with Swiss startup Samplab was disclosed via the EU's List of Acquisitions under the Digital Markets Act, revealing the companies struck an agreement in June. Apple is acquiring certain Samplab assets and hiring some of its employees, while Samplab's website now redirects to Apple's and its social media and YouTube content have been removed.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-10-19
Google is rolling out labels on YouTube Music that flag tracks created or significantly altered using generative AI, appearing on the player page with a tappable menu for more details. The system relies on a mix of Google's own detection tools, partnerships, and optional disclosures from publishers, who can mark uploads as fully, partially, or not AI-generated.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-10-15
Deezer announced a new on/off switch that will let users completely remove AI-generated tracks from their streaming experience, set to roll out by the end of 2026. CEO Alexis Lanternier said the feature responds to clear user demand to focus only on content made by human creators. Deezer says AI-generated tracks now make up more than 50 percent of uploads to its platform, up from 18 percent last year, with about 90,000 AI tracks uploaded daily.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-14
Sean Parker and CEO Prem Akkaraju are repositioning Stability AI, which Parker helped rescue with an $80 million infusion two years ago, as a toolmaker for music professionals. The company announced $76 million in new funding from Sony, Warner, and Universal, who also licensed their catalogs for training its models. Stability has released three new audio models along with AI music-editing software that can generate instrumental tracks or short clips from text prompts.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-02
Suno has released Speech, a public beta feature on its web and mobile apps that generates spoken voiceovers alongside background music as a single track. Users can create audio via a Simple mode, describing a scene in a prompt, or an Advanced mode that accepts a custom script and lets them adjust voice gender, style and variation; background music can also be toggled off.
theverge.com
· 2026-10-02
Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group have amended their copyright lawsuit against AI music generator Suno, arguing its newly released v6 models still rely on infringing material. The labels claim Suno's own admission that v6 was trained partly on 'user interactions' with earlier models means it indirectly used previously scraped copyrighted recordings, potentially implicating over 60,000 songs.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-18
Máuhan M Zonoozy, who previously led innovation at Spotify and founded remix startup Bubbl before its acquisition by Cricket Media, has launched A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya, a startup building small apps for playing with sound and vocals. The company secured $5.5 million in pre-seed funding from investors including Mantis VC, SV Angel, Boxgroup, and former Spotify advertising executive Dawn Ostroff, who is advising the venture. Rather than one product, the startup releases experimental apps as 'singles,' such as a Chrome extension called Speed Surfer that alters browser audio and a stem-mixing tool called Stacks.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-09-14
ElevenLabs has released Music v2.5 as the new default model in ElevenMusic, improving audio quality with richer melodies and more natural instrument sounds across genres. Users on all plans, including Free, now own the rights to tracks they create, and can download lossless copies—five daily for Free users and 400 monthly for Pro subscribers. Tracks that reference other artists' songs are blocked from download to protect original creators.
elevenmusic.io
· 2026-09-11
Universal Music Group and ElevenLabs unveiled a multi-year licensing agreement and broader partnership to build a new AI-powered music platform, separate from ElevenLabs' existing ElevenMusic tool. The unreleased platform will let fans create remixes, mashups, new track interpretations and personalized vocal experiences using catalog from participating UMG artists, who will be compensated under the deal.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-10
Universal Music Group announced a multi-year licensing deal with ElevenLabs to build an AI-powered platform letting users create remixes and reinterpretations of songs from UMG's catalog. The companies say the partnership will expand over time to include additional AI products and fan experiences beyond the initial platform. This new offering will operate separately from ElevenLabs' existing Music API and ElevenMusic tools.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-10
Suno released version 6 of its AI music generator, the first built using licensed content from Warner Music Group, BMG, and Believe alongside user-submitted data. The update ships as three variants—v6, v6-wild, and a free lightweight v6-mini—with notable improvements in recognizing and reproducing musical genres accurately.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-09
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