Universal Music Group and tech giant Nvidia describe new partnership as ‘antidote to AI Slop’
Universal Music Group has announced a new partnership with AI and robotics giant NVIDIA.
It’s the latest in a string of controversial partnerships between UMG, along with other major labels, and AI tech companies. In a press release issued yesterday, 6th January, Universal said the partnership would combine NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure and Music Flamingo audio model with Universal’s catalogue of millions of recordings to create tools for music creation, discovery and distribution.
According to the NVIDIA’s research overview notes, Music Flamingo has the ability to listen to music the same way a human does, recognising and understanding “harmony, structure, timbre, lyrics, and cultural context.”
Song generation, they say, will be less of a focus, but using AI in collaboration with artists as part of their development strategy will be a significant element. The idea is to co-develop AI tools with musicians, producers and songwriters, which Universal say is the solution to what CEO Sir Lucian Grainge previously described as “platform pollution” by low-quality, AI-generated music on streaming services. In September last year, Spotify announced it had removed over 75 million spam tracks from its platform.
The statement went on to say that “this collaboration sets new standards for innovation and responsibility in the music industry”, calling it “responsible AI” and “a direct antidote to generic, ‘AI slop’ outputs”.
“We’re entering an era where a music catalog can be explored like an intelligent universe — conversational, contextual, and genuinely interactive”, said Richard Kerris, NVIDIA VP/GM of Media. “By extending NVIDIA’s Music Flamingo with UMG’s unmatched catalog and creative ecosystem, we’re going to change how fans discover, understand, and engage with music on a global scale. And we’ll do it the right way: responsibly, with safeguards that protect artists’ work, ensure attribution, and respect copyright.”
The Universal-owned Abbey Road Studios and Capitol Studios will be used to test these new tools, where both companies say protecting copyright, attribution and consent will be of the utmost importance.
UMG has recently joined forces with Splice, KLAY and Udio in a bid to get ahead of the AI game.
Last month, Jorja Smith’s label, FAMM, challenged viral hit, ‘I Run’, over claims her voice had been cloned using AI.
YouTube, meanwhile, announced it would introduce AI hosts on radio and mixes in the YouTube Music app that will share “relevant stories, fan trivia, and fun commentary about your favourite music”.
