Spotify locked in a licensing deal with indie publisher Kobalt for its upcoming AI covers and remixes feature — following its earlier UMG deal for the same product. The pitch: this isn’t free-for-all AI music generation, it’s a paid add-on that routes money back to the artists and songwriters whose work gets remixed.
Translate that: AI creation → licensed songs → real rights holders → a cut of the revenue. That’s a completely different model than the “AI stole my voice” fights we’ve been covering. The real question isn’t whether this works → it’s whether indie artists actually see meaningful money, or whether the majors just found a new way to own the machine too.