Spotify plans to launch a brand-new AI functional service at the beginning of 2027, allowing listeners to create their own song remixes and cover versions. Currently, the company is in negotiations for copyright licensing and is working hard to convince musicians to accept this technology.
People familiar with the plan revealed that this streaming platform aims to launch its product in the first quarter of next year and is expected to make a formal public announcement around the time of the Grammy Awards in February. One of the individuals in the know stated that Spotify is considering charging subscribers an additional $4 to $5 per month for use of the service.
Paid subscribers can use AI to generate adapted versions of popular songs, such as converting folk songs into dance tunes or imitating a certain singer's cover of another artist's works.
Insiders remind that the launch time and pricing have not been finalized yet, and there is still a possibility of adjustments.
After the media reported on this AI mixing incident, the stock price of Spotify soared by nearly 6% on Friday. The company refused to comment on the matter.
Spotify is currently negotiating licensing agreements with Sony Music and Warner Music in order to implement this feature. The company has already reached partnerships with Universal Music Group, the Independent Labels Licensing Alliance Merlin, and the French music company Believe.
This launch is an important test: despite some musicians resisting the generative AI, whether the music industry can use this as an opportunity to open up new sources of revenue.
Insiders say that Spotify and Universal Music, the world's largest record company, have separately met with several musicians, persuading them to allow their works to be used for this service.
According to an industry insider, it is more difficult to persuade popular mainstream stars than some established and experienced musicians. Even if record companies have signed licensing agreements with Spotify, the musicians themselves can still choose whether to participate or not.
In an interview this month, Olivia Rodrigo, who has signed with Universal Music, clearly stated her opposition to using AI in her music works. She said, “I would never do that, absolutely not, my attitude is very firm.”
Spotify announced this product in May, but did not disclose any further details thereafter. In August, Co-CEO Gustav Söderström told investors that the product would be launched as soon as it was ready.
This product is one of the important measures taken by Spotify to increase subscription revenue. The company has been developing new products for its core fans, such as priority purchase of concert tickets and expanded access to audiobooks.
Spotify promises investors to maintain an annual revenue growth rate of around 15% by 2030, which has led to doubts from the outside world about how it will be able to achieve this growth target on a sustained basis.
Bernstein analyst Ian Moore estimates that by the end of 2028, approximately 7% to 8% of Spotify subscription users in the United States will activate this AI service. He believes that adding new paid value-added services will help the company achieve its revenue growth targets.
This service is different from Suno and other AI music generation tools: Suno can create new songs from scratch based on text prompts; whereas the product of Spotify allows fans to adapt the existing works of musicians who have been authorized to participate in the project.
According to the plan, the royalties generated from fans' remixes will go to the original song creators. People familiar with the matter said that Spotify is still developing a supporting mechanism, and remix works can be included in the song charts, with their play counts being recorded in the Spotify chart statistics for the original songs.
At the investor conference in September, Thedestrom proposed that established musicians should join this AI service to increase their income.
"If you were a musician in the 80s or 90s and wanted to earn more money, you could only rely on other artists to mix and cover your songs. Now, you can expect your own fans to do the mixing and covering for you."
"If your fans create a remix version of your song, the share of streaming revenue that you get could actually increase."
