Spotify announced on August 13 that Kobalt has licensed its songs for the streaming service's coming AI tool for covers and remixes. It is the first publisher outside Universal Music Group to sign up, and follows Universal's recorded-and-publishing deal in May and the agreement with indie rights body Merlin on August 4.
The tool will be sold as an add-on to Premium, with participating songwriters sharing in the money generated by licensed fan versions. Spotify music chief Charlie Hellman said covers and remixes start with the song, so publishers are essential partners, and described the deal as built on consent, credit and pay. Kobalt chief executive Laurent Hubert said the features rest on ethical training and fair compensation.
Spotify also says the add-on gives participating songwriters a new income stream and that every fan creation steers listeners back to the original recording. The pitch matters to publishers because, as MBW notes, they typically take around a quarter of streaming royalties against recorded music's three quarters, a split US publishers blame on statutory rate-setting under Section 115. Hellman said Spotify expects to add more partners as it builds the product.
Consent is the part that decides which songs are usable. Co-CEO Alex Norström, on the company's Q2 earnings call on August 4, described a '3 Cs' framework in which artists must opt their work in. Universal's deal only covers artists and writers who agree, and Merlin's works in two layers, with its 30,000 labels signed on and each label's artists then choosing. The Kobalt announcement does not say how its writers opt in or how shared songs with co-writers at other publishers will be handled. Kobalt's separate deal with ElevenLabs only applies where it controls all of a song's mechanical rights. Kobalt sold its AWAL label and neighbouring rights business to Sony for $430 million in 2021 and now centres on publishing and its collection society amra.
Kobalt has already licensed Udio this year and was bought by Primary Wave in July for about $1.5 billion, with Hubert staying on. Spotify has given no price or date for the product, saying only that a research preview for some users comes next. Kobalt services more than a million songs across ten offices and has had a US licensing deal with Spotify since August 2025. Elsewhere, the NMPA struck an industry-wide deal with Udio in June that it says values songs and recordings equally, while Sony is still suing both Suno and Udio and Universal is still suing Suno.
Sources · 1