Patents are often the bedrock of new innovation, and a suite of patents defining how AI-generated music can be created, licensed and monetized has hit the market — with multiple AI companies lined up to license them.
Music IP Holdings, a company formed last year out of a strategic partnership with Universal Music Group and the intellectual property management firm Liquidax, has licensed a portfolio of more than 24 patents to the AI music platforms Udio and GRAI. The collection of patents covers a wide swath of elements associated with the rise of AI music, including moderation, watermarking, licensed distribution and monetization.
For Daniel Drolet, the CEO of MIH, the patents are designed to create “new opportunities for responsible innovation while giving artists, songwriters and rightsholders stronger protections and the ability to share in the value their work creates.”
“The portfolio was developed to enable a standard that provides creators of all types the ability to generate, track and ensure new AI revenue streams while simultaneously providing strong options to manage unauthorized AI outputs,” Drolet said in a statement.
“ With MIH, we’re partnering to implement the infrastructure that protects artists and establish the guardrails that ensure AI amplifies human creativity,” Udio CEO Andrew Sanchez said in a statement. “That work — the technology, the licensing, the partnerships — is what makes the next chapter one artists can actually build on.”
