Spotify Widens Its AI Music Push With Merlin Deal for Artist-Approved Remixes and Covers

Spotify is moving closer to a consumer-facing AI music product that lets fans create remixes and covers of songs with permission from rightsholders, and it now has Merlin on board to expand that effort. The company said the new partnership brings more than 30,000 independent labels and distributors into the planned service, a significant step toward launching an AI tool it says will reward, credit and compensate participating artists.

The update came during Spotify’s second-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, where executives described the project as an attempt to build a legal, opt-in alternative to the flood of fully synthetic AI music appearing across streaming platforms. Spotify has not announced a launch date, but it said an early research preview will roll out to a limited group of users first.

What Spotify is building

Spotify is developing an AI music feature that would let listeners generate covers and remixes based on tracks from participating artists. The central idea is not to replace musicians with machine-made avatars, but to create a system where real artists can choose to let fans play with their work.

That distinction matters because the wider AI music market has become crowded with tools that can produce entire songs from scratch, often without clear permission from the creators whose styles, voices or recordings may have helped train them. Spotify is trying to position its product as something different: a licensed, artist-approved remix environment embedded in a major streaming platform.

Executives framed the project as a way to make fan creativity compatible with existing music rights. They also said the tool will be launched as a paid add-on, creating a new revenue stream rather than a free feature supported only by engagement or advertising.

Why Merlin’s involvement matters

Merlin’s decision to join the effort is important because it dramatically broadens the pool of labels and distributors that could participate. Merlin is one of the most influential licensing organizations in independent music, and Spotify said its network adds more than 30,000 labels to the project.

That matters for both scale and credibility. A remix product is only as useful as the catalog behind it, and independent music is a huge part of the listening habits that define streaming. By bringing Merlin into the deal, Spotify gains a path to a much larger and more diverse set of rights holders beyond the major-label universe.

The company had previously announced Universal Music Group as part of the initiative. With Merlin added alongside UMG, Spotify appears to be building a rights framework that could eventually span major and independent catalogues, though the company has not said which artists or labels will go live first.

How the partnership is different from generic AI music tools

The partnership is designed to separate Spotify’s project from the more controversial corner of AI music, where software can generate tracks that imitate real musicians or create entirely fabricated acts. Spotify’s leadership says this project is meant for actual performers and actual catalogs, not synthetic personalities.

During the earnings call, Spotify co-chief executive Gustav Söderström said the company’s focus is on “real artists, not fake artists,” underscoring the service’s attempt to avoid the backlash that has followed other AI-generated music products.

Spotify’s executives say the goal is to give fans a legal way to remix songs while keeping artists in control, with consent, credit and compensation built into the system.

Co-chief executive Alex Norström described the product as a model where artists agree to add their work to a catalog fans can interact with, and where those artists are credited and paid. He said the service is intended to offer what he called a legal route into the “AI tailwind” expected to reshape interactive music.

How Spotify says the product will work

Spotify says the feature will not require its entire catalog to be available at launch. Instead, the company plans to begin with a research preview that will be accessible to a small subset of users. That approach suggests Spotify wants to test the underlying licensing and product experience before opening the feature more broadly.

The company has not publicly detailed the user interface, the technical tools, or the specific permission flow artists will use. But the broad contours are clear: users will be able to select eligible music, generate new versions, and do so only within a rights structure that Spotify and its partners approve.

Spotify has also said the new tool will function as a paid product, which could matter both commercially and culturally. Rather than treating AI music as a novelty layered on top of the free tier, Spotify seems to be trying to create a premium creative tool that produces direct value for artists and the platform alike.

Why Spotify is betting on consent-based AI music

Spotify’s strategy reflects a broader industry reality: AI-generated music is already flooding streaming services, and platforms are under pressure to respond. Deezer recently said more than half of its daily track uploads are now AI-generated, a sharp rise from 10% in January 2025.

That growth helps explain why Spotify is emphasizing licensing and artist approval. If streaming platforms cannot draw a line between unauthorized generative content and sanctioned fan-made derivatives, they risk being overwhelmed by low-cost synthetic uploads that may confuse listeners, dilute catalogs and strain rights management systems.

By placing its AI music product inside an opt-in framework, Spotify is signaling that it wants to be seen not as a passive host for machine-generated content but as an infrastructure provider for a licensed creative economy.

What Spotify hopes to avoid

Spotify appears to be trying to avoid three major problems that have haunted other AI music products: legal uncertainty, artist backlash and a race-to-the-bottom dynamic in which synthetic content crowds out human creators.

• Legal uncertainty: A consent-based model gives Spotify a stronger footing with rights holders.
• Artist backlash: The company is promising credit and compensation rather than silent imitation.
• Cultural backlash: By centering real musicians, Spotify can argue it is supporting creativity instead of replacing it.

That positioning may not satisfy everyone, especially critics who see AI as inherently risky in music. But it is a meaningful attempt to build a commercial product that does not depend on scraping or simulating artists without permission.

Who gets access first?

Spotify says a small subset of users will receive the initial research preview, but the company has not said who those users will be or when the preview will begin. It also has not clarified whether the early version will be available in all markets or only in select regions.

Because the feature is still in development, many practical questions remain unanswered. These include how artists will opt in, how remix rights will be displayed, whether users will be able to publish creations publicly, and whether the AI output will be limited to certain song elements such as vocals or instrumentals.

Still, the company’s messaging suggests the rollout will be deliberately cautious. That may reflect both technical complexity and the sensitivity of licensing agreements that need to be honored before the feature can move beyond test mode.

How this fits into Spotify’s broader product strategy

Spotify has been steadily adding new features that deepen user engagement and create premium reasons to stay inside its ecosystem. The AI remix and covers tool fits that pattern, but it also goes a step further by aiming to make the platform a destination for participatory music creation, not only consumption.

If successful, the product could become a rare example of a mainstream streaming company turning generative AI into a monetizable feature that directly involves artists. It could also open a second revenue channel for musicians who choose to license their catalogs into the system.

That possibility is especially important in an industry still wrestling with how AI should be used. Many artists want to benefit from the technology without surrendering control over their voice or identity. Spotify’s pitch is that its model offers a middle ground: fans get creative tools, artists get consent and compensation, and the platform gets a differentiated product.

What the industry is likely to watch next

Investors, labels, artists and competitors will be watching for several indicators over the coming months. The biggest is whether Spotify can turn the preview into a product that feels genuinely useful rather than merely experimental.

Another key question is whether enough artists and labels opt in to make the tool compelling. A remix platform lives or dies by the quality and breadth of its library, and Spotify will need more than a few headline acts to make the offering sticky.

Finally, the market will be watching whether Spotify can prove that generative AI can be monetized in a way that both supports creators and avoids some of the reputational damage already visible elsewhere in the music ecosystem.

Timeline of the AI music push

The development of Spotify’s AI music effort has unfolded quickly, with licensing partnerships and public comments arriving in stages as the company prepares the product for testing.

Why this matters for artists and listeners

This matters because it could redefine how fans interact with music inside a major streaming service. Instead of passively listening, users could shape songs into new versions while artists remain part of the economic and legal structure.

For artists, that may mean another way to monetize catalog value and reach audiences who want to engage more deeply with their work. For listeners, it could mean access to an officially licensed creative tool rather than a gray-market generator with unclear rights.

For Spotify, the move is also strategic. If the company can pioneer a licensing-based AI music product at scale, it may set an industry standard that competitors and rights holders are forced to reckon with.

The bigger picture

Spotify’s partnership with Merlin shows that the music industry is moving from abstract debate about AI to practical experiments about how to use it. The question is no longer simply whether AI should be involved in music, but under what conditions, and with whose permission.

That shift does not eliminate the tensions around AI-generated content. But it does suggest a more mature phase of the conversation, one in which streaming platforms, labels and artists may increasingly negotiate how generative tools are deployed rather than simply trying to keep them out.

Spotify’s own framing makes clear it sees opportunity in that transition. The company is betting that fans will want to make music more interactive, that rights holders will accept a properly licensed system, and that a product built on real artists will stand apart in a crowded AI landscape.

Whether the market agrees will depend on execution. For now, Spotify has taken another concrete step toward turning AI music from a controversial experiment into a commercial feature with industry backing.