Universal Music Group Partners with Klay Vision to Develop Ethical AI Music Model

Universal Music Group and Klay Vision Partner to Develop an Ethical AI Music Model

Klay Vision's forthcoming Large Music Model (KlayMM) is set to launch soon, promising new tools for music creation. Los Angeles-based AI music company Klay Vision announced on Monday a partnership with Universal Music Group (UMG) to develop a commercial ethical foundational model for AI-generated music that works in collaboration with the music industry and its creators. Klay aims to be the backbone for a new era of innovation, the company said. Also Read: Google Announces AI Collaborations for Healthcare, Sustainability, and Agriculture in India UMG and Klay share a vision that foundational AI models are best built and scaled responsibly through constructive dialogue and consensus with those responsible for the artistry that shapes global culture. "Building generative AI music models ethically and fully respectful of copyright, as well as name and likeness rights, will dramatically lessen the threat to human creators and stand the greatest opportunity to be transformational, creating significant new avenues for creativity and future monetisation of copyrights," the companies said in a joint statement. Led by music and technology industry executives Ary Attie (music producer and tech visionary), Thomas Hesse (former President of Global Digital Business and US Sales and Distribution, Sony Music Entertainment), and Bjorn Winckler (joining soon from Google Deepmind), Klay says it is committed to supporting artists, songwriters, and their supporters -- including music publishers, labels, distributors, and other rights holders across both major and indie landscapes -- by creating a global ecosystem for AI-driven content without competing with traditional music catalogues. Also Read: TCS Launches Nvidia Business Unit to Propel AI Adoption Across Industries Michael Nash, Executive Vice President, and Chief Digital Officer of Universal Music said, "We are excited to partner with entrepreneurs like the team leading Klay, to explore new opportunities and ethical solutions for artists and the wider music ecosystem, advancing generative AI technology in ways that are both respectful of copyright and have the potential to profoundly impact human creativity." Ary Attie, founder and CEO of Klay added, "Research is critical to building the foundations for AI music, but the tech is only an empty vessel when it doesn't engage with the culture it is meant to serve. Klay's obsession is not just to showcase its research innovation but to make it invisible and mission-critical to people's daily lives. Only then can music AI become more than a short-lived gimmick." Also Read: Everyone in India Can Ask AI Assistants Questions About Health Issues, Says Meta Official: Report Klay is reportedly developing a new Large Music Model (KlayMM) to advance music AI. According to the official release, the company is currently in stealth mode but plans to launch a product in the coming months.

Universal Music partners with AI company building an 'ethical' music generator

Universal Music Group (UMG) announced a new deal centered on creating an "ethical" foundational model for AI music generation. It's partnered with a company called Klay Vision that's creating a "Large Music Model" named KLayMM and plans to launch out of stealth mode with a product within months. Ary Attie, its founder and CEO, said the company believes "the next Beatles will play with KLAY." The two say the model will work "in collaboration with the music industry and its creators," without many details about how, while Klay plans to make music AI "more than a short-lived gimmick." This is how the companies explain their shared goals: Building generative AI music models ethically and fully respectful of copyright, as well as name and likeness rights, will dramatically lessen the threat to human creators and stand the greatest opportunity to be transformational, creating significant new avenues for creativity and future monetization of copyrights. As for how whatever it is they're working on will affect human artists: KLAY is developing a global ecosystem to host AI-driven experiences and content, including accurate attribution, and will not compete with artists' catalogs in traditional music services. UMG's new partnership comes as it is involved in lawsuits against AI music generator sites and Anthropic, and in May, it ended a short stand-off with TikTok by signing a new licensing arrangement that covered, among other things, AI-generated music. Klay is also run by chief content officer Thomas Hesse, who was previously Sony Music Entertainment's president. Former Google Deepmind researcher Björn Winckler, who led the development of Google's Lyria AI music model, is joining the company as its head of research.

Universal Music Group Partners With KLAY to Develop Ethical AI Technology

(Reuters) - Universal Music Group has partnered with Los Angeles-based AI music company KLAY Vision to develop artificial intelligence tools for the music industry in an ethical way, it said on Monday. The partnership is aimed at developing AI technology to "explore new opportunities and ethical solutions for artists and the wider music ecosystem", said Michael Nash, executive vice president and chief digital officer at Universal Music. Universal is currently engaged in litigation with Anthropic AI and Suno and Udio over the use of the label's recordings to train music-generating AI systems.

Universal Music Group partners with KLAY to develop ethical AI technology

Oct 28 (Reuters) - Universal Music Group (UMG.AS), opens new tab has partnered with Los Angeles-based AI music company KLAY Vision to develop artificial intelligence tools for the music industry in an ethical way, it said on Monday. The partnership is aimed at developing AI technology to "explore new opportunities and ethical solutions for artists and the wider music ecosystem", said Michael Nash, executive vice president and chief digital officer at Universal Music. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Universal is currently engaged in litigation with Anthropic AI and Suno and Udio over the use of the label's recordings to train music-generating AI systems. Reporting by Alban Kacher; Editing by Jan Harvey Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Universal Music Strikes Strategic Deal With "Ethical AI Music Company" Klay Vision

NBCU's Int'l Reality Streamer Hayu Keeps Expanding and Is Launching Its First FanFest in London Universal Music Group, led by chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge, is teaming up with L.A.-based AI music company Klay Vision on what they described as "a pioneering commercial ethical foundational model for AI-generated music that works in collaboration with the music industry and its creators." Klay is positioning itself to become "the backbone for a new era of innovation, powering new products and experiences, committed to the premise that AI can bolster and grow musical creativity and human artistry," the partners said. Monday's press release even called Klay an "ethical AI music company." The two companies said that they share "the conviction that state-of-the-art foundational AI models are best built and scaled responsibly through constructive dialogue and consensus with those responsible for the artistry that shapes global culture." They added: "Building generative AI music models ethically and fully respectful of copyright, as well as name and likeness rights, will dramatically lessen the threat to human creators and stand the greatest opportunity to be transformational, creating significant new avenues for creativity and future monetization of copyrights." Klay is led by executives from the fields of music and technology, including music producer and tech visionary Ary Attie, Thomas Hesse, the former president of Sony Music Entertainment, and Björn Winckler, who is set to join the firm soon from Google Deepmind. "Klay is committed to serving artists and songwriters and those who support them, including music publishers and labels, distributors, and other rights holders across the major and Indie label landscape," the company said. "Klay is developing a global ecosystem to host AI-driven experiences and content, including accurate attribution, and will not compete with artists' catalogs in traditional music services." Michael Nash, executive vp and chief digital officer of Universal Music Group (UMG) said the music giant was excited "to explore new opportunities and ethical solutions for artists and the wider music ecosystem, advancing generative AI technology in ways that are both respectful of copyright and have the potential to profoundly impact human creativity. UMG has always endeavored to lead the music industry in driving innovation, embracing new technologies and supporting entrepreneurship while protecting human artistry." Added Attie, founder and CEO of Klay: "Research is critical to building the foundations for AI music, but the tech is only an empty vessel when it doesn't engage with the culture it is meant to serve. Klay's obsession is not just to showcase its research innovation but to make it invisible and mission-critical to people's daily lives. Only then can music AI become more than a short-lived gimmick. Our great artists have always embraced the newest technologies - we believe the next Beatles will play with Klay." On Friday, UMG launched Brenda Lee's Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree in Spanish for the first time using SoundLabs AI technology, fully approved by the artist. Universal has been partnering with new AI companies committed to respecting and helping to maximize the commercial impact and reach that responsibly trained AI can bring to artists. Its deals have come with the likes of YouTube/Google, ProRata.AI, Endel, SoundLabs, BandLabs, and Roland. UMG is in litigation with Anthropic AI, as well as being part of an industry-wide action against Suno & Udio.

Universal strikes AI data training deal, still suing AI companies for using it's data

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Universal Music Group (UMG), one of the largest recording labels in the world, has been vocal about the impact of AI in the music industry, going as far as to sue AI companies. But even UMG wants its data to help train generative AI as long as it can control who gets to use its copyright and build AI models. UMG announced it will work with AI company Klay Vision to help train generative AI music models "ethically and fully respectful of copyright." The model will help create commercially available AI-generated music that will also include protections for the likeness rights of human creators. "Research is critical to building the foundations for AI music, but the tech is only an empty vessel when it doesn't engage with the culture it is meant to serve," said Ary Attie, founder and CEO of Klay, in a press release. This is not the first time UMG has made a deal to offer its content for AI licensing, all the while allowing it to help shape how AI music models are built. UMG signed an agreement with YouTube to be part of YouTube's parent Alphabet's Music AI Incubator. It also worked with SoundLabs to help create voice models for artists. Klay and UMG said the goal is to responsibly build AI music foundation models that the companies hope "will dramatically lessen the threat to human creators and stand the greatest opportunity to be transformational, creating significant new avenues for creativity and future monetization of copyrights." The companies did not elaborate on what the music AI foundation model will do. Famously litigious The music industry is famously litigious, guarding its copyright and licenses tightly. After all, these are the same music labels that attempted to kill music downloads. The industry has been involved in the Congressional hearings on legally protecting copyright and the right to publicity of artists. UMG and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Sony Music and Warner Music Group's Atlantic Records filed a copyright infringement claim against Suno and Udio. The labels alleged the two startups copied songs and that when prompted to generate similar-sounding songs, the platforms would return with the same songs with different lyrics instead. Both Udio and Suno denied the accusations. Labels, once again including Universal, sued Anthropic, the company behind Claude, for distributing lyrics without permission. Preemptive participation As much as record labels want to protect their copyright, the partnerships the companies are forging point to a trend of industries adopting an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" attitude towards AI. Music labels see they can't stem the creation of AI-generated songs and prevent AI models from training on publicly released music. Through these deals with AI startups, labels like UMG, which owns other record labels that host artists like Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan, can make (even more) money from their copyrights. It also allows the companies to exert some control over who gets to use their data, something other industries have been pushing for as well. For example, media companies inked deals with companies like OpenAI, Perplexity, Google and now Meta, which just signed its first AI news partnership with Reuters. Music labels will undoubtedly continue to sue AI companies if they feel they are infringing on copyright, but recording agencies will also undoubtedly want to shape how AI music is created in the image that best suits them.