Last Updated: July 2026
Yes — for the first time, independent artists can get paid when AI companies train on their music, but only if they opt in through the right doors. Between October 2025 and January 2026, Universal Music Group settled with Udio, Warner Music Group settled with Suno, and the indie world got its own path when Merlin (representing roughly 30,000 independent labels and distributors) and Kobalt signed licensing deals with Udio and ElevenLabs. Every one of these deals is opt-in: your music is not supposed to be used for training unless you (or your label or publisher) affirmatively say yes, and in exchange you earn a share of new AI-platform revenue. The money is real but early — ElevenLabs pays a pro-rata royalty pool split 50/50 between recordings and compositions, while Udio's UMG platform pays per-output royalties calibrated to how similar a generation is to the training data. The stakes are not small: CISAC projects generative AI music will reach €16 billion in annual output value by 2028 while putting 24% of human creators' revenue at risk. Here's exactly how these deals work, who qualifies, and what to do about it.
What changed in 2026?
The industry's posture flipped from lawsuits to licenses in about 90 days. UMG settled its copyright case against Udio in late October 2025 and announced a licensed AI platform launching in 2026 (Music Business Worldwide, October 2025). Warner followed with a Suno settlement and licensing deal in November 2025, which forces Suno to retire models trained on unlicensed data (Music Business Worldwide, November 2025). Merlin signed with Udio in the weeks after, and Kobalt inked deals with both Udio and ElevenLabs in January 2026 (Billboard, January 2026). Meanwhile, ElevenLabs launched Eleven Music as a licensed AI creation and streaming platform, and the American Federation of Musicians sued UMG and Warner in June 2026 for allegedly failing to share the settlement money with the session musicians whose recordings were used (The Hollywood Reporter, June 2026). If you make any part of your living from recorded music, this is now your business.
How do AI music training royalty deals actually work?
Every major deal signed since October 2025 shares the same skeleton: an AI company pays for a license to train on a catalog, rightsholders opt in voluntarily, and revenue flows back through the label, distributor, or publisher that signed the deal. What differs — a lot — is how each platform calculates who gets what.
There are two payment models on the table in 2026. The first is the royalty pool model, used by ElevenLabs' Eleven Music: opted-in rightsholders receive a pro-rata share of a revenue pool based on how many of their works were used to train the model relative to everyone else's, weighted by "digital proxies" — essentially the streaming popularity of those songs on other platforms (Billboard, 2026). Eleven Music revenue splits 50/50 between the recording side and the composition side. The second is the per-output attribution model, used by the forthcoming Udio-UMG platform: artists who opt in earn a royalty each time the platform generates output, calibrated to how similar that output is to their music in the training data (PR Newswire, October 2025). Attribution technology is the make-or-break variable here — nobody has yet proven it works at scale.
One more structural detail matters for indie artists: the Udio-UMG platform is a walled garden. Music generated inside it cannot be exported, downloaded, or uploaded to Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube (Chartlex, 2026). Suno's Warner deal, by contrast, allows off-platform distribution under its licensed model, and downloads now require a paid account. The walled-garden question determines whether AI outputs compete with your catalog on DSPs — which is exactly where the royalty risk lives.
Which AI music licensing deals cover independent artists?
Major-label artists are covered by their labels' deals. Independent artists have three realistic doors in mid-2026, and all of them run through an intermediary — there is currently no direct-to-AI-company opt-in for a fully DIY artist.
| Deal | Signed | Who it covers | How indies get paid | Opt-in mechanics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Udio × UMG | Oct 2025 | UMG artists & songwriters | Per-output royalty tied to similarity | Artist opts in via UMG |
| Suno × WMG | Nov 2025 | Warner artists & songwriters | Revenue share from Suno paid tiers | Artist controls name/voice/likeness use |
| Udio × Merlin | Dec 2025 | ~30,000 indie labels & distributors | License revenue via label/distributor | Label opts in; artists opt in beneath |
| Udio × Kobalt | Jan 2026 | Kobalt publishing clients | Publishing share of license revenue | Writer opts in via Kobalt |
| ElevenLabs × Merlin + Kobalt | Jan 2026 | Merlin members; Kobalt writers | Pro-rata royalty pool, 50/50 masters/publishing | Only works 100% controlled by member are eligible |
Read the fine print on that last row: ElevenLabs currently only accepts works whose masters and publishing are both 100% controlled by the participating Merlin member or Kobalt (Billboard, 2026). If you co-wrote a song with someone outside those systems, that song likely doesn't qualify yet. Split documentation — the same thing that already gates your mechanical and sync income — now gates your AI training income too. This is where a catalog tool like RoyaltyCoPilot.ai earns its keep: knowing exactly which works you control 100%, and having the splits documented, is the entry ticket to these programs.
How much money will AI training royalties actually pay?
Honest answer: nobody knows yet, and anyone quoting you a per-song figure is guessing. But the market size numbers are concrete. CISAC's economic study projects generative AI music outputs will be worth €16 billion annually by 2028, with AI music accounting for roughly 20% of streaming platform revenues and about 60% of production music library revenues by that year (CISAC/PMP Strategy, December 2024). The same study projects a cumulative €10 billion loss to human creators over five years — 24% of music creators' revenues at risk in 2028.
The supply-side numbers are moving even faster. Deezer reported in April 2026 that AI-generated tracks now represent 44% of all new music uploaded to its platform — roughly 75,000 tracks per day, up from 10,000 per day in January 2025 (Deezer Newsroom, April 2026). That flood is why the licensing deals matter beyond the direct checks: every licensed deal comes with pressure to retire unlicensed models and to keep AI output from diluting the streaming royalty pool you already depend on.
For early comparables, ElevenLabs says it has paid $11 million to voice creators through its voice marketplace to date (Music Business Worldwide, 2026) — a useful signal that opt-in AI licensing can generate real payouts, and a caution that the amounts start modest and skew toward catalogs with streaming traction, since payouts are popularity-weighted.
How do independent artists opt in to AI training royalties?
Here's the practical sequence in 2026, in priority order:
- Find out if your distributor or label is a Merlin member. Merlin members include many major indie distributors and labels. If yours is a member, ask directly: "Have you opted our catalog into the Udio or ElevenLabs license, and what is the artist share?" Labels choose first; artists opt in beneath that choice.
- Check your publishing admin's position. Kobalt clients have an opt-in path for the publishing side. Other admins (Songtrust, Sentric, etc.) had not announced equivalent deals as of July 2026 — ask yours what's coming before you renew.
- Document your splits and ownership now. ElevenLabs' 100%-control requirement will not be the last of its kind. Confirm every work in your catalog has documented splits, registered ISRCs and ISWCs, and clean metadata. An audit through RoyaltyCoPilot.ai will show you which works are actually eligible and which have ownership gaps that would disqualify them.
- Decide your opt-in posture per catalog, not globally. Nothing requires you to opt in everything. Some artists are opting in older catalog while holding back new releases; others are staying out entirely until per-output attribution proves itself.
- Get the AI terms in writing before signing anything new. Any label, distribution, or publishing agreement you sign in 2026 should state explicitly whether the company can license your work for AI training and what percentage flows to you. Silence on this point now is a red flag.
What are the risks of opting in — and of staying out?
The AFM lawsuit is the clearest warning about opting in blind. The musicians' union sued UMG and Warner in the Southern District of New York on June 5, 2026, alleging the labels licensed member recordings to Suno and Udio "without compensation or credit," and failed to share settlement proceeds with the session players on those recordings (Music Business Worldwide, June 2026). Warner moved toward dismissal in July 2026 (Digital Music News, July 2026). Whatever the outcome, the lesson for indies is that money flowing to an intermediary is not the same as money flowing to you — your deal terms decide that, which is the same lesson black-box royalties taught the industry for decades.
Staying out has costs too. Unlicensed AI models already trained on scraped catalogs, and the flood of AI tracks is diluting streaming pools whether you participate or not — Deezer's 44%-of-uploads figure lands on everyone equally. Opting in at least converts an existing externality into a revenue line. The genuinely open questions are whether attribution tech will credit you accurately, and whether early pool-based payouts under-compensate niche catalogs relative to popularity-weighted hits. Track your statements closely either way; if AI-platform line items start appearing, verify them against your opt-in terms the same way you'd verify any other royalty source. That verification habit — checking that every income stream you're owed actually shows up — is the core discipline RoyaltyCoPilot.ai was built around.
Frequently asked questions
Will I get paid if AI already trained on my music without permission?
Not automatically. The UMG and Warner settlements compensated the labels, and the AFM lawsuit filed in June 2026 disputes whether even those labels' musicians will see a share. For independents, past unlicensed training currently pays nothing unless a future settlement or class action changes that — which is why the forward-looking opt-in deals matter more than back pay right now.
Can a fully DIY artist opt in to AI training royalties in 2026?
Not directly. Every active deal — Udio, Suno, ElevenLabs — runs through UMG, WMG, Merlin members, or Kobalt. Your realistic path is releasing through a Merlin-member distributor or label, or administering publishing through Kobalt. Direct artist-level programs are expected but not live as of July 2026.
How much do AI training royalties pay per song?
No platform has published per-song rates. ElevenLabs pays a pro-rata share of a royalty pool weighted by how many of your works trained the model and their streaming popularity, split 50/50 between masters and publishing. Udio's UMG platform will pay per-output royalties based on similarity to your work. Expect small checks initially, concentrated on frequently-streamed catalogs.
Does opting in mean AI can clone my voice?
Not under the Warner-Suno framework — artists there control name, voice, and likeness separately from catalog training. Whatever door you opt in through, confirm that voice/likeness rights are a separate, explicit permission and not bundled silently into a training license.
Will AI music reduce my regular streaming royalties?
That's the credible threat. CISAC projects AI music could account for about 20% of streaming platform revenue by 2028, and Deezer says 44% of new uploads are already AI-generated as of April 2026. In pro-rata royalty systems, AI tracks that capture streams shrink the pool for human artists — which is why platform policies on labeling and licensing matter as much as the training checks.
Do these AI deals affect my MLC, SoundExchange, or PRO royalties?
Not yet. AI training licenses are direct deals outside the statutory systems — the MLC, SoundExchange, and the PROs don't administer them as of mid-2026. Your existing registrations still govern your mechanical, digital performance, and public performance income, and AI-platform streams of licensed outputs may eventually generate those royalties too. Keep every registration current.
What should I ask my distributor about AI licensing?
Three questions: Are you a Merlin member, and did you opt into the Udio or ElevenLabs deals? What percentage of AI license revenue passes through to artists? Can I opt my catalog out (or in) at the individual-release level? Get answers in writing.
How do I know which of my songs qualify for these programs?
Eligibility currently hinges on control: ElevenLabs requires 100% of both master and publishing controlled inside the participating system. Run a catalog audit — confirm ownership, splits, ISRC/ISWC codes, and registrations for every work — so you know your eligible list before you ask to opt in.