Navigating the Future: New Developments in AI Music Licensing

AI music licensing is fast becoming one of the most important conversations in today’s music industry. Technology is reshaping how songs are created, shared, and licensed, forcing music professionals to rethink how rights, royalties, and creative ownership work in practice.

From pilot projects testing collective licensing models to ongoing legal debates over rights, the way music is monetised is changing quickly and these changes will redefine how artists, publishers, and platforms interact.

AI tools can now generate melodies, replicate voices, and remix tracks in seconds. While this opens new creative possibilities, it also raises difficult questions about ownership and royalties.

In September 2025, Sweden’s rights society STIM introduced what it calls the world’s first collective licence that allows AI technologies to train on music while ensuring songwriters are credited and compensated. This development marks a move from speculation to practical licensing frameworks.

For music licensing professionals, this is more than a passing issue. The changes ahead will significantly impact publishing, streaming, sync, and licensing as we know them.

For instance, since sync depends on clarity of ownership, the rise of these generative tools makes it even more important to understand how licensing is adapting and what that means for future opportunities.

How Music Licensing Is Evolving: Three Key Changes

Music rights management is entering a new phase where compliance is not optional but essential. Collective licensing models, smart contracts, and improved metadata systems are redefining how music is cleared for use across film, television, gaming, advertising, and new media. These changes mark a shift toward a more transparent, accountable, and future-ready licensing landscape.

Across the industry, this move toward practical licensing is gaining momentum. Rights societies, publishers, and platforms are each developing new frameworks to adapt. Three trends stand out:

1. Rule-making and licensing pilots
   Rights organisations and forward-thinking labels are testing new agreements that allow controlled use of catalogues for AI training. Sweden’s STIM collective licence remains one of the most visible early examples, setting a precedent for AI music licensing and compensation.

2. Rights holders asserting control
   Major labels and publishers are making it clear that their catalogues are off limits without explicit permission. Universal Music, for instance, has reserved rights for text and data mining, requiring proper licensing before use. For sync licensing, this highlights the importance of airtight permissions and legal compliance. Any project using AI-assisted music risks disputes if these safeguards are ignored.

3. Platform enforcement and fraud prevention
   Streaming services are under growing pressure to filter out low-quality synthetic uploads and impersonations. Spotify recently removed millions of questionable tracks and is moving toward stricter metadata and provenance standards. This same focus on provenance now extends to sync, where brands and agencies seek assurance that the music they license is authentic, original, and legally cleared.

The STIM Collective Licence: What It Means

One of the most significant advances in recent rights management comes from STIM, the Swedish performing rights society. In 2025, STIM introduced a collective licence that allows the use of selected works for technology training while ensuring that rights holders are credited and compensated.

Traditional licensing models assumed that all works were created by humans. STIM’s model recognises that AI tools now contribute to music creation and that this use must also be accounted for when works are performed, streamed, or broadcast.

The pilot is running with startups Songfox and Sureel, covering opt-in works. Under the model, the creators receive royalties at multiple stages: when their works are used for training, when services access those trained models, and when finished works are used. 

Attribution technology is required to trace outputs back to influencing works so that payments remain transparent and fair.

STIM’s collective licence is not yet a global solution, but it sets a clear blueprint. For music licensing professionals, it represents a step toward smoother clearances and stronger legal certainty in projects involving AI-generated or AI-assisted music.

How To License AI-Generated Music

STIM’s pilot is an important first step, but the industry is still shaping a consistent approach to licensing music made with new technology. In the meantime, several clear principles can guide artists, rights holders, and music users:

(i ) Review the platform’s terms:  Each music-creation service has its own rules. Some allow full commercial use, others restrict usage, require attribution, or reserve a share of revenue. Understanding these terms at the outset is essential.

(ii) Clarify authorship: The main question is simple: who is the creator? Most legal frameworks still recognise the person who shapes the music as the rights holder, provided there is meaningful creative input. The technology itself is seen as a tool, no different from a synthesiser or a recording studio.

(iii) Use established licensing systems: Once you are recognised as the rights holder, traditional avenues apply:

• Performance rights organisations (PROs): entities like STIM, ASCAP, BMI, or PRS collect royalties from public use.
  
• Mechanical rights: for reproduction via streaming, downloads, or physical media.
  
• Sync licences: required for placement in film, TV, advertising, games, and media, regardless of how the track was made.

(iv) Watch for new licensing models. Some societies may introduce licences specifically crafted for works made with digital tools. Such models may consider how much human contribution exists or how tools were used.

(v) Document your process. Keep clear records of your inputs, editing, transformations, versioning, and attribution chains. This documentation can be crucial when music is placed, licensed, or audited.

(vi) Secure legal alignment. Work closely with music licensing experts, coordinate with collecting societies, and stay updated on policy developments in your market.

For sync licensing in particular, the focus is on certainty. Music supervisors, brands, and agencies want assurance that the music they license is properly cleared and that rights are secure. Any doubt about ownership or royalties can put deals in jeopardy, so documenting the creative process and securing the right licences is becoming as important as the music itself.

The Impact of AI Music on the Present: New Opportunities and Challenges

Right now, AI music licensing is opening fresh opportunities while also raising serious concerns:

• More creators in the mix: AI tools make it easier for anyone to produce music without formal training or expensive gear. This increases the flow of music into the licensing market.
  
• Faster production cycles: Compositions and ideas can be generated more quickly, enabling frequent releases and raising demand for licensing systems that operate at scale.
  
• Ownership questions: Determining who controls the rights to music made with the help of these tools is complicated. Current lawsuits, including Universal Music Group’s actions against platforms that train on copyrighted songs, show how unsettled the rules still are. Rights holders need to be sure new works are original and not too close to existing catalogues.
  
• Soundalikes and vocal replicas: Technology can now imitate the style or even the voice of well-known artists. This creates risks of misleading content and raises both ethical and legal challenges for licensing.
  
• Sync licensing pressure: For film, TV, ads, and games, these tools could flood the market with affordable tracks, making it easier for smaller productions to find music. At the same time, it may undercut the value of original works and make attribution harder. Licensing frameworks will need to adapt to balance cost efficiency with fair recognition for music creators.

The Legal and Practical Nuance You Need to Know

As licensing frameworks evolve, several legal and practical issues remain unsettled:

• Collective vs. individual clearance: Collective licenses through societies offer broad coverage with standardised terms and pooled royalties. They can scale better than one-to-one negotiations, especially for large training datasets. But no single collective covers every territory or rights holder, creating patchy protection across markets.
  
• Copyright of new works: Governments and copyright offices are still deciding whether works made entirely with digital tools are eligible for copyright, and if so, who holds the rights. The U.S. Copyright Office, ASCAP, and PRS are active in these debates, and the uncertainty directly shapes how licensing models function.
  
• Transparency and provenance: Rights groups are pushing for rules that require disclosure when music is used for training or remixing, supported by technical markers to trace outputs back to sources. Metadata standards, like those promoted by DDEX, are gaining traction as platforms fight impersonation and spam.
  
• The challenge of enforcement: Licences only matter if there are tools to detect unauthorised use. Tracking derivations, sampling, or overlaps across catalogues is technically and legally complex, especially when many stakeholders are involved.
  
• Significance for sync. Any film, television, or media buyer requiring music will insist on clear metadata, a chain of title, and full licensing transparency. Without that, even a great track may be unusable for sync. Music supervisors will increasingly demand proof of provenance before approving music placements.

The Horizon: What’s Next in Music Licensing?

Looking ahead, the licensing framework for music created with AI tools is still evolving, but several clear trends are taking shape:

• Broader adoption of collective licences: More societies may launch licences similar to STIM’s, standardising the use of works under clear rules. This would replace the current patchwork of individual agreements with clearer and more consistent structures.
  
• Transparency and provenance: New metadata systems and possibly blockchain could help track the full path of a piece of music, from source material to final output, ensuring fair attribution and royalties. Streaming platforms and distributors may require these standards before accepting uploads.
  
• Hybrid ownership models:  As music increasingly blends human creativity with digital tools, new licensing concepts may emerge. These could assign rights based on the level of human contribution or create shared ownership frameworks between music creators and technology providers.
  
• Regulation of training data: Governments may begin to consider rules about the music and recordings used to train generative systems. These rules would aim to protect creators whose works are included.
  
• Redefining “creator” and “work.”:  Copyright offices and courts will continue to refine what qualifies as a protected musical work and who is recognised as its creator, potentially changing long-standing assumptions in copyright law.
  
• Fragmentation across territories:  Some rights societies may follow Sweden’s lead in introducing collective digital licences, while others may take different approaches. This could make global licensing more complex.
  
• Legislative action: New laws may reset baseline assumptions about licensing, rights, and the use of AI tools in creative work.

For music licensing professionals, this coming shift means that licensed music must come not just with creative fit but with verifiable rights, transparent metadata, and future-proof clearance.

Spring Sound Music: Licensing Solution For All Media

As technology reshapes music licensing, one constant remains: creators and media producers need partners who understand both the art and the law. 

The rise of collective licences, new metadata standards, and tighter platform rules show that the next phase of music use will demand more than creativity. It will require compliance, clarity, and cultural sensitivity.

At Spring Sound Ltd, we guide clients through this terrain with assurance. Our Music Solutions for All Media combine expert supervision, seamless licensing, and custom composition with a culturally curated library spanning film, television, gaming, advertising, and new media.

What sets us apart is foresight. Our 3Ps approach ensures every project is positioned for global success. As leaders in Afrobeats music IP licensing for Nollywood and the interactive industry, we connect Africa’s most exciting talent with worldwide storytelling opportunities.

At a time when AI tools are blurring the lines of creativity and ownership, Spring Sound delivers certainty. We make sure every track is not only the perfect creative fit but also fully licensed, fully protected, and ready for the future.Planning a film, ad, series, or game? Speak to a music supervisor at Spring Sound today. We’ll make sure your project has the music it deserves, fully creative, fully compliant, and fully future-proof.