Spotify expands AI remix and covers project with Merlin partnership

Spotify这次放了个大招！他们和独立音乐厂牌平台Merlin达成合作，准备推出一个让粉丝用AI给喜欢的歌曲做翻唱和混音的新功能，而且是在艺术家本人同意的前提下。这和以前那些直接用AI生成假歌手的玩法完全不同，Spotify强调这是“真艺术家，不搞虚拟人”，保证艺术家既同意又有署名，还能拿到钱，号称是“第一个合法参与AI音乐创作的方式”。说白了，就是以后你喜欢的歌手，你可以用他们的歌曲素材，自己动手改编一版，有点像“官方授权的二创”。现在AI音乐泛滥，每天新上传的歌里有一半是AI生成的，Spotify希望用这个正规渠道把创作热情引到合法轨道上。这个功能会作为付费附加项推出，艺术家也能因此多赚一份钱，算是给整个音乐行业打了一剂强心针。对普通人来说，未来听歌的乐趣可能不只是听，还能亲手“玩”音乐，甚至做出自己的版本。它降低了创作门槛，让普通粉丝也能变成半个音乐制作人，同时还能保护原作者的权益——以后这种“蹭AI热度”的方式，会越来越讲究规则了。

During its second-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, Spotify again teased the upcoming release of a new product that will allow music fans to leverage AI to make covers and remixes of artists’ music, with the artists’ consent. The company also announced that Merlin, a licensing partner for independent labels and distributors, has now joined Universal Music Group (UMG) on the new AI music effort. The deal brings more than 30,000 labels from Merlin’s network to the product, which will allow fan-made covers and remixes by artists who agree to participate. Spotify has positioned its AI music product as being significantly different from the more controversial AI music startups that have been used to create fully artificial songs. Instead, Spotify co-CEO Gustav Söderström told investors on Tuesday’s call that the company’s AI music product will be about “real artists, not fake artists.” “We want artists to be consenting [to add] their work into this catalog, so people can play around with covers and remixes based on their art,” added co-CEO Alex Norström. “We also obviously want to give them credit. And last but not least…we not only have the consent and give credit, but we also drive the compensation for this. So, really, we’re talking about the first legal way to partake in this AI tailwind that we see coming for interactive music,” he said. AI music has flooded streaming services. Music streamer Deezer recently noted that more than 50% of daily track uploads were generated with AI, up from 10% in January 2025. The company told investors that a research preview of the fan remix and covers product would initially be made available to a subset of users. Spotify also noted that it would not require a full music catalog to get started. The company did not say when the preview would arrive. The new tool will launch as a paid add-on, creating an additional revenue stream for artists, Spotify previously said. “Our remix and covers I think is an incredibly exciting product again because there is no one else that can really do this,” Söderström said. “Normal generative music will happen with or without us. This product will not happen without us, and it needs to exist so that existing artists can can participate in this.”