https://wearethemusicmakers.co/latest Music tech and AI in music: the news that matters, what we think about it, and a directory of the tools. en-us Sun, 25 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/ai-sample-packs-licence-check https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/ai-sample-packs-licence-check AI-made one-shots, loops and whole packs are now everywhere, and the licence questions are different from a normal sample pack. This guide gives a five-step check for any AI-generated sound you plan to release with: who made it, what plan it came from, what the pack licence says, whether anyone can own it at all, and what your distributor and Content ID will do with it. Sources checked on 25 Oct 2026. Sun, 25 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers sampleslicensingaiworkflows https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/royalty-free-vs-copyright-free https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/royalty-free-vs-copyright-free Three labels get used as if they meant the same thing. They do not. "Royalty-free" describes how you pay for a licence, "copyright-free" is usually a marketing phrase, and "public domain" is a legal status. Here is how to tell them apart and a five-step check before you put someone else's music in your video, game or release. Laws and official pages checked on 25 Oct 2026. Sun, 25 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers copyrightlicensingsyncworkflows https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/licensing-music-to-creators https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/licensing-music-to-creators Creators need background music and will happily pay or credit an artist who makes clearing it easy. This guide covers the three ways to license your tracks directly to creators (free with credit, Creative Commons, or a paid licence), what a one-page licence should say, how to keep Content ID from claiming a video you licensed, and how to price it. YouTube and Creative Commons sources read on 25 Oct 2026. Sun, 25 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers licensingyoutubecopyrightindependent-artists https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/production-music-libraries-explained https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/production-music-libraries-explained Production music is written to be licensed: background cues, beds, stings and themes that video makers pick from a catalogue instead of commissioning a score. This guide explains how libraries make money, what an exclusive or non-exclusive deal actually changes for you, why Content ID and retitling collide, and how to write and deliver music a library can use. Sources read on 25 Oct 2026. Sun, 25 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers synclicensingroyaltiesindustry https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/selling-beats-leases-explained https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/selling-beats-leases-explained A practical guide for producers selling beats online: the difference between a non-exclusive lease and an exclusive licence, what to put in each tier, why leased beats cannot go into Content ID, why an exclusive needs a signed contract, and how to price a ladder without boxing yourself in. Sources read on 25 Oct 2026. Sun, 25 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers licensingcopyrightbusinessproducers https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/creative-commons-music-licences https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/creative-commons-music-licences Creative Commons gives you six licences built from four elements, plus a public-domain tool called CC0. For musicians, two of those elements matter most: NonCommercial (NC), which shuts out most paid uses, and NoDerivatives (ND), which under the licence text blocks sync to video. Here is what each one allows, and what to pick before you release. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers licensingcopyrightsyncworkflows https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/license-your-voice-for-ai https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/license-your-voice-for-ai Some AI platforms will pay you to let other people use a model of your voice. Their own terms decide who consents to each use, how you get paid and what survives if you pull out. Here is what ElevenLabs and Kits.ai actually say, as read on 24 Oct 2026, and what to check before you sign up. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicvoice-cloninglicensingroyalties https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/remix-licensing-and-official-remixes https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/remix-licensing-and-official-remixes A remix is a derivative work, so only the copyright owners can authorise it. Here is what separates an official remix from an unofficial one, what a stem licence should spell out, and how to read a remix contest's rules before you hand over your best work for a prize. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers remixescopyrightlicensingworkflows https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/tiktok-and-reels-music-rights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/tiktok-and-reels-music-rights When someone puts your track under a TikTok or an Instagram Reel, money only reaches you if a licence and a distributor sit in between. Here is how the licensing works on both platforms, what the pay is based on, what the platforms forbid, and which distributor routes get your music into the libraries. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers royaltiesdistributionlicensingsocial https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/splice-alternatives-licences https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/splice-alternatives-licences Sample subscriptions look alike until you cancel or release a record. We read the terms and help pages of Splice, Loopcloud and Tracklib on 24 Oct 2026 to answer three questions: what licence you get, what survives cancelling, and what you still owe once your track is out. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers samplessplicelicensingworkflows https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/sync-licensing-basics-for-indies https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/sync-licensing-basics-for-indies A sync placement pays for two separate rights, and a music supervisor has to clear both before your track goes anywhere near a picture. Here is what those rights are, why owning both of them makes you easier to license, how library deals differ, why nobody can quote you a standard fee, and the paperwork that gets you paid after the cheque. Sat, 24 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers synclicensingroyaltiescopyrightindustry https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/ai-training-data-licensing-explained https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/ai-training-data-licensing-explained So far, every deal that pays for training AI on music runs through an intermediary (a label, publisher, distributor, collecting society or sample marketplace), and almost none publishes a rate. Here is how the four deal structures work, what the law says in the EU, UK, US and India as of 23 Oct 2026, and what an independent artist can actually claim. Fri, 23 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicai-traininglicensingcopyrightroyalties https://wearethemusicmakers.co/opinion/open-weights-vs-closed-apps-ai-music-model-licences https://wearethemusicmakers.co/opinion/open-weights-vs-closed-apps-ai-music-model-licences Stable Audio 3, Lyria 3, Suno v6, ElevenLabs' music products and Udio all describe themselves as responsible about rights, but their terms differ sharply on who owns the output, whether you can release it, and whether your own creations become training data. We read each vendor's terms. Here is what they actually say. Fri, 23 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightsai-musiclicensingopen-weights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/arooj-aftab-two-payment-rule-ai-training https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/arooj-aftab-two-payment-rule-ai-training The Grammy-winning singer says musicians are owed twice, once for training and again for every new track an AI makes from what it learned. That goes further than the union statement she was resharing, and further than CISAC's president, but one collective licence in Sweden already pays at both points. Fri, 23 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightsai-musicai-traininglicensingumaw https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/umg-tyger-adaptive-game-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/umg-tyger-adaptive-game-music Universal Music Group is the first major music company to license TYGER, a music app for gamers that adapts licensed recordings to live gameplay. It isn't a song generator, and it could be a new income line. But nobody has said whether artists will be paid like sync or like a stream, or whether they get a say in how their songs are reshaped. Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industrygamingumglicensingai-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/spotify-ai-remix-tool-artist-consent https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/spotify-ai-remix-tool-artist-consent Believe and TuneCore became the fourth licensor of Spotify's planned AI covers and remixes add-on on 20 Oct 2026, and the first to describe an artist-level, two-step opt-in. The earlier UMG and Kobalt announcements talk about "participating" artists without saying who makes that choice, and Merlin says artists get a choice without describing how. Price, revenue split and launch date are still undisclosed. Tue, 20 Oct 2026 06:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicspotifylicensingconsent https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/ai-native-labels-soundbreak-finesse2tymes-grai-massivemusic https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/ai-native-labels-soundbreak-finesse2tymes-grai-massivemusic GRAI signed two deals with Songtradr's MassiveMusic on 15 Oct 2026, one to stream catalogue and one to train a model on an opt-in dataset. SoundBreak was reported to be adding Memphis rapper Finesse2Tymes as an AI co-writer. AI companies are taking on label jobs, and the consent sits with whoever holds the rights, not always the artist. Thu, 15 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industryai-musiclicensingartist-rights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/ai-music-licence-anatomy-udio-suno-settlements https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/ai-music-licence-anatomy-udio-suno-settlements Universal and Warner settled with Udio, and Warner with Suno, on a shared template: retrain on licensed music, let artists opt in their voice and likeness, and control what leaves the platform. The public terms don't say what any of it costs, how revenue is split, or how money reaches an individual artist. Wed, 14 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicsunoudiolicensingartist-rights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/sonilo-raises-11m-ai-video-scoring-sync-composers https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/sonilo-raises-11m-ai-video-scoring-sync-composers Sonilo, a San Francisco start-up founded by former TikTok AI and music staff, has raised $11 million led by B Capital for a model that writes music and sound effects timed to your footage. Its answer on training data is a licensed Shutterstock catalogue, which means stock-music composers are both the training set and the competition. Wed, 14 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicfundingsynclicensingvideo https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/ua-empirical-labs-fatso-native-plugin-licensing https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/ua-empirical-labs-fatso-native-plugin-licensing Universal Audio has released its Empirical Labs FATSO tape-simulator plug-ins in native form for Mac and Windows, 17 years after the DSP version. The price is easy to compare with a subscription; the licence terms behind it are the harder part. Tue, 13 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers releasespluginsuniversal-audiolicensing https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/professional-sound-alliance-sound-designers-ai-scraping https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/professional-sound-alliance-sound-designers-ai-scraping The Professional Sound Alliance launched on 24 Sep 2026 to fight "Data Piracy" and "Sync Piracy" of sound effects. Two of its founding libraries already sell AI training data, so this is a campaign for licensed AI on their terms. The open question is whether the recordists behind those libraries share in it. Thu, 24 Sep 2026 09:30:00 GMT We are the music makers artist-rightsai-trainingsound-designlicensing https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/suno-v6-licensed-era https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/09/suno-v6-licensed-era Suno's v6, launched on 9 Sep 2026, is the first model it built with Warner, BMG and Believe, and every older model was retired. The labels have deals; the opt-in products that would pay individual artists don't exist yet. And people who had built a sound on v5.5 lost the instrument they were playing. Wed, 09 Sep 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers releasessunoai-musiclicensing https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/grimes-ai-voice-50-50-split-three-years-on https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/grimes-ai-voice-50-50-split-three-years-on In 2023 Grimes let anyone release songs with an AI copy of her voice in exchange for half the master royalties. About three years on, the GrimesAI profile lists 168 releases, the Elf.Tech site has gone quiet and Grimes now says humans still have to tell the story. Here is what worked, what didn't, and what other artists can borrow. Tue, 11 Aug 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicgrimesvoice-cloninglicensingartist-rights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/sync-ai-era-clean-chain-of-title https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/sync-ai-era-clean-chain-of-title AI tracks are flooding the cheap end of production music, but a music supervisor can't clear or insure a cue whose authorship and training data nobody can document. Here is how sync money works, and why well-documented human catalogues are gaining value. Thu, 06 Aug 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industrysynclicensingaimusic-supervisorscopyright https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/07/native-instruments-inmusic-kontakt-licences https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/07/native-instruments-inmusic-kontakt-licences The sale of insolvent Native Instruments took effect on 1 July 2026: inMusic took the core business and Boris FX took iZotope. NI says existing licences are unaffected, but its products need online activation and its new owner has already cut staff, so producers should plan for the licence server, not the press release. Wed, 01 Jul 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industrymusic-technative-instrumentsinmusiclicensing https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/05/stim-ai-rights-category-opt-in-work-by-work https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/05/stim-ai-rights-category-opt-in-work-by-work STIM's members have voted to create a separate AI rights category, in force from 1 Jun 2026. No work goes into an AI licence unless its creator switches it on, work by work; everything else stays monitored but excluded. It is the most consent-heavy model we have seen a collecting society adopt, and its weak spot is scale, not principle. Sun, 31 May 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicartist-rightslicensingcollective-managementstimsweden https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/05/udio-starstruck-licensed-walled-garden https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/05/udio-starstruck-licensed-walled-garden Udio's licensed app Starstruck will let fans cover, reimagine, remix or write new songs, but only as a named, opted-in artist, with royalties paid on every creation and nothing allowed to leave the app. It is AI as fan merchandise rather than an artist's tool, and the opt-in usually runs through the label or publisher, not the artist. Fri, 22 May 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aiai-musicudiolicensingwalled-garden https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/05/umg-tiktok-renewal-unauthorised-ai https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/05/umg-tiktok-renewal-unauthorised-ai Universal Music Group and TikTok signed a new multi-year licence on 22 May 2026 that keeps UMG's catalogue on the app and repeats a pledge to remove "unauthorized AI-generated music". Neither company has said what "unauthorised" means, how tracks are detected or how an artist can appeal, and that gap falls hardest on independent artists who use AI tools legitimately. Fri, 22 May 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers aitiktoklicensinguniversal-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/05/stable-audio-3-open-weights-licensed-data-local https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/05/stable-audio-3-open-weights-licensed-data-local Stability AI's Stable Audio 3.0 family puts music models that make up to 6:20 of audio onto ordinary laptops, with open weights for Small and Medium. The "fully licensed" training set is stock library and Creative Commons audio, not label catalogue, and the free licence ends at $1M in annual revenue. Wed, 20 May 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicreleasesstability-aiopen-weightslicensing https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/02/hook-raises-10m-licensed-fan-remixes https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/02/hook-raises-10m-licensed-fan-remixes Hook, an app for licensed fan remixes and mashups, has raised a $10 million Series A led by Khosla Ventures. The pitch is that every remix pays the people who own the song, but the Hook announcements we read, going back to 2023, don't say how much, how often, or how an artist says no. Wed, 18 Feb 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers fundingindustryremixlicensingugc https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/01/musical-ai-4-5m-attribution-trace-songs-ai-output https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/01/musical-ai-4-5m-attribution-trace-songs-ai-output Musical AI, formerly Somms.ai, raised $4.5 million in a round led by Heavybit to scale software that estimates how much each licensed source contributed to a generated track. It is the plumbing per-output royalties depend on, and the research says it estimates influence rather than proves it. Tue, 13 Jan 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers ai-musicfundingattributionlicensingroyalties