Spotify has expanded its planned artificial intelligence music remixing service through a licensing agreement with Merlin, bringing a network representing more than 30,000 independent record labels into the project.
The agreement will allow eligible artists and rights holders represented through Merlin to decide whether their music can be used in Spotify’s upcoming fan-made covers and remixes tool.
Participation will be optional. Artists who agree to make their work available are expected to receive credit and compensation when listeners use their music to create new versions.
Spotify previously secured agreements with Universal Music Group and Universal Music Publishing Group for the same project. Adding Merlin significantly expands the potential catalog beyond major-label releases and gives independent music companies a route into Spotify’s emerging AI business.
The company plans to launch the feature as a paid add-on for Spotify Premium subscribers, although it has not announced a release date or pricing structure.
Merlin is a digital licensing organization that negotiates agreements on behalf of independent record labels, distributors, and other music rights holders.
Its membership includes more than 500 companies representing over 30,000 record labels. These members are based in more than 70 countries and collectively account for approximately 15 percent of the global recorded music market.
The organization works with labels and distributors including Domino, Epitaph, Ninja Tune, Sub Pop, Warp Records, Secretly, Polyvinyl Records, Nettwerk, and Hopeless Records.
Merlin also has licensing relationships with Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Meta, Canva, ElevenLabs, Udio, and dozens of other technology platforms.
Under the new Spotify agreement, artists associated with labels covered by Merlin’s Spotify licensing arrangement will have the option to participate in the AI remixing program.
The deal does not mean that every song represented by Merlin will automatically become available. Rights holders must choose to enter the program, creating a consent-based model rather than a system in which entire catalogs are used by default.
Spotify’s planned tool will allow listeners to create alternative versions of songs from participating artists and songwriters.
A cover could involve changing the vocal presentation or performing style of an existing composition. A remix could alter elements such as tempo, arrangement, instrumentation, or genre.
Spotify has not yet provided a complete description of the controls that users will receive. It also has not explained whether completed creations will be publicly shareable, limited to private listening, or eligible for inclusion in playlists.
The company intends to begin with a research preview available to a limited group of users. Spotify has said it does not need agreements covering its entire music catalog before launching the test.
Starting with a smaller selection would allow the platform to study how listeners use the feature, how frequently they create new versions, and whether those versions encourage additional streams of the original songs.
The preview could also help Spotify test copyright attribution, royalty calculations, content moderation, and technical safeguards before offering the product to a wider audience.
Spotify is positioning the project as an alternative to AI music services that create entirely synthetic tracks or generate songs that imitate existing performers.
Instead of building a catalog of artificial artists, Spotify wants its system to focus on music from real performers who have approved the use of their work.
The company’s approach is based on three principles: permission from rights holders, clear attribution, and financial compensation.
Participating artists and songwriters would maintain control over whether their music is available. Creations would identify the original work and direct listeners back to it. Revenue generated through the paid add-on would also create an additional payment stream.
This structure could give Spotify an advantage over AI music startups that have faced criticism and legal action from record labels, music publishers, and performers.
Many of those disputes center on whether copyrighted recordings were used to train AI systems without authorization and whether generated songs unlawfully imitate protected works.
Spotify is attempting to avoid that conflict by negotiating licenses before releasing its tool.
Spotify plans to offer AI covers and remixes as a paid add-on for Premium customers.
The product will therefore require an additional payment beyond a standard Spotify subscription. The company has not disclosed whether it will use a monthly fee, a usage-based payment system, or a combination of both.
Charging separately could generate revenue for Spotify while creating a dedicated royalty pool for participating rights holders.
Spotify reported 777 million users across 184 markets as of August 2026. That total includes 300 million paying subscribers.
Premium subscribers therefore represent approximately 38.6 percent of Spotify’s global user base.
Even limited adoption among those 300 million subscribers could give the AI product a substantial audience. For example, adoption by just 1 percent of Premium users would equal approximately 3 million customers.
The commercial result would depend on pricing, royalty arrangements, user interest, and how frequently subscribers create remixes or covers.
Spotify has not revealed how revenue from the add-on will be divided among the platform, recording owners, performers, songwriters, and music publishers.
The Merlin announcement arrived as Spotify reported another increase in its global audience.
When the company announced its Universal Music Group agreements in May 2026, Spotify listed 761 million total users and 293 million subscribers.
By August, those figures had increased to 777 million users and 300 million subscribers.
That represents an increase of 16 million total users and 7 million paying subscribers over roughly three months.
Spotify’s service currently provides access to more than 100 million music tracks, approximately 7 million podcast titles, and around 700,000 audiobooks.
Its scale gives the company a major advantage in developing interactive music products. Spotify already controls the listening interface, recommendation system, subscription relationship, and royalty infrastructure used by hundreds of millions of people.
The new AI tool could turn Spotify from a platform that primarily delivers finished recordings into one where users can actively modify licensed music.
For independent artists, the agreement could create an additional source of income beyond conventional streams.
A participating artist could potentially earn money when a fan creates a remix, listens to that creation, or uses it to discover the original recording.
Spotify has not yet explained whether royalties will be based on the number of creations, the number of plays, subscription revenue, or another measurement.
The company will also need to determine how payments are divided when several parties control a song.
A single track may involve a recording artist, record label, songwriter, publisher, producer, featured performer, and other contributors. A fan-made version could use the underlying composition, the original recording, or both.
Spotify’s agreements with Merlin and Universal Music Group indicate that the platform is working with both recorded music and publishing rights. However, not every rights holder connected to a song will necessarily be covered by the same agreement.
The availability of individual tracks may therefore depend on whether Spotify has secured all required permissions.
Merlin’s involvement gives independent music businesses greater influence over how Spotify develops the product.
The organization represents approximately 15 percent of the global recorded music market. Its network spans more than 500 members and over 30,000 labels, making it one of the most important collective licensing organizations outside the three major record companies.
Merlin operates using a 1.5 percent administration fee charged on revenue collected for its members.
Its participation means Spotify’s project will not be limited to music controlled by major labels. Independent performers across a wide range of genres and markets could also have an opportunity to participate.
This broader catalog may be important for attracting users. A remixing tool based on a narrow group of popular releases could lose its appeal quickly, while access to thousands of independent catalogs could support more experimentation.
Independent labels may also benefit from increased discovery if fan-made creations direct listeners back to original recordings.
Spotify’s initiative comes as streaming services face a rapid increase in music created with generative AI.
Deezer reported that more than 50 percent of the tracks uploaded to its platform each day were AI-generated by mid-2026.
Approximately 90,000 AI-generated tracks were being uploaded to Deezer per day during the peak measured in June 2026.
The increase has been dramatic. In January 2025, AI-generated music accounted for around 10,000 daily uploads, or 10 percent of the platform’s total.
By April 2025, that figure had increased to 20,000 tracks per day. It reached 30,000 in September, 50,000 in November, 60,000 in January 2026, and 75,000 in April 2026.
At the June 2026 peak of 90,000 daily tracks, the volume was nine times higher than the level recorded in January 2025.
This surge has created concerns about fraudulent streaming, royalty dilution, impersonation, and the growing volume of low-quality music competing for listener attention.
Some streaming platforms have responded by labeling AI-generated music, restricting monetization, or removing tracks connected to artificial streaming activity.
Spotify’s licensed remixing strategy takes a different approach. Rather than attempting to stop listeners from using AI, it wants to create a controlled system in which artists can choose to participate and receive a portion of the resulting value.
The project’s success will depend on Spotify’s ability to manage complex music rights accurately.
A recording and its underlying composition are protected by separate rights. Creating a remix may require permission from the owner of the master recording, while producing a cover generally involves rights connected to the song’s composition.
AI can make those distinctions even more complicated.
A user might change a song’s genre while preserving its melody. Another might generate a new vocal performance while retaining elements of the original recording. Some creations may combine multiple works or resemble an artist who did not agree to participate.
Spotify will need systems that identify the material used, record the permissions connected to each track, attribute every creation, and calculate payments.
The company will also need rules for offensive content, political manipulation, impersonation, and remixes that could damage an artist’s reputation.
Artists may expect the ability to withdraw their catalogs, block certain types of transformations, or remove creations they consider harmful.
Spotify has not yet disclosed how much control participating artists will have after joining the program.
The AI project could help Spotify increase the amount of time subscribers spend inside its application.
Music streaming services largely offer access to similar catalogs, making exclusive interactive features an important way to differentiate one platform from another.
A listener who can create a personalized remix may spend more time experimenting with a song, sharing versions, and exploring an artist’s catalog.
Spotify could also connect the tool to playlists, social features, artist pages, or recommendation systems.
A successful fan-created remix might introduce an older song to a new audience. It could also produce additional streams for the original recording and increase interest in the participating artist.
The feature may be particularly attractive to highly engaged fans who already purchase merchandise, concert tickets, limited releases, or premium digital experiences.
Spotify’s decision to sell the service as an add-on suggests it views interactive music as a separate product category rather than a standard subscription feature.
Spotify has not confirmed when the research preview will begin or which countries will receive access first.
The company has also not announced the add-on’s price, catalog size, supported languages, technical limitations, or minimum subscription requirements.
Its initial launch will involve only a subset of users and participating music.
The agreements with Universal Music Group and Merlin give Spotify access to a large pool of potential content, but individual artists and rights holders must still decide whether to participate.
Additional agreements may be needed before the company can offer a broad and commercially attractive catalog.
The project’s long-term success will depend on whether listeners are willing to pay for AI-powered music creation and whether the resulting revenue is meaningful for artists.
By adding Merlin’s network of more than 30,000 independent labels, Spotify has moved closer to answering both questions at a global scale.
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