{"id":254816,"date":"2026-04-09T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=254816"},"modified":"2026-04-09T15:03:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T14:03:18","slug":"after-universal-warner-and-merlin-deals-now-udio-inks-licensing-agreement-with-kobalt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/after-universal-warner-and-merlin-deals-now-udio-inks-licensing-agreement-with-kobalt\/","title":{"rendered":"After Universal, Warner, and Merlin deals, now Udio inks licensing agreement with Kobalt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Udio<\/strong> has signed a licensing agreement with Kobalt<\/strong>, adding the independent music publisher to a growing roster of industry partners \u2013 as the AI platform continues its transformation from copyright defendant to licensed service provider.<\/p>\n

The deal, announced on Thursday (April 9<\/strong>), will see Udio<\/strong>‘s forthcoming subscription platform trained on authorized and licensed music from Kobalt<\/strong>‘s catalog, establishing what the companies describe as “an important pathway for new revenue streams for Kobalt artists and songwriters.”<\/p>\n

Udio<\/strong>‘s reimagined service \u2014 expected to launch later this year \u2014 will offer users the ability to make remixes, covers, and new songs using the voices of artists and compositions of songwriters who ‘opt in’, with participating creators credited and paid.<\/p>\n

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The agreement marks Udio<\/strong>‘s fourth significant licensing deal since it settled copyright infringement litigation with Universal Music Group in October 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That settlement signaled a dramatic pivot for a platform that had, just months earlier, been defending its training practices under a ‘fair use’ argument in federal court.<\/p>\n

The UMG<\/strong> settlement was followed by a similar agreement with Warner Music Group<\/a> in November 2025<\/strong>, and a licensing deal with Merlin<\/a>, the digital licensing partner for independent labels and distributors, in January 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Sony Music Group<\/strong> remains the only major music company yet to reach a licensing agreement with Udio<\/strong>. Its portion of the RIAA<\/strong>-led litigation against the platform, filed in mid-2024<\/strong> for alleged mass copyright infringement, remains ongoing.<\/p>\n

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“Our clients and songwriters rely on us to both protect them and to create new opportunities for their works in an ever-changing technology landscape,” said Laurent Hubert<\/strong>, CEO of Kobalt, today.<\/p>\n

“We look forward to working closely with Udio to develop these new possibilities and are excited for what this deal could mean for the thousands of songwriters, artists, producers and publishers we work with everyday.”<\/p>\n

Andrew Sanchez<\/strong>, Co-Founder and CEO of Udio, said: “We’re excited to partner with Kobalt and welcome its exceptional community of songwriters, artists, and creatives to Udio.<\/p>\n

“Our focus is on expanding creative possibilities through AI, while ensuring artists’ rights are respected and fairly compensated every step of the way. Together with Kobalt, we’re unlocking new potential for both artists and Udio users.”<\/p>\n

Ahead of its launch, Udio<\/strong> says it will roll out “expanded protections and other measures designed to safeguard the rights of artists and songwriters.”<\/p>\n

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Udio’s path back from the courtroom<\/h6>\n

Udio<\/strong>‘s licensing spree contrasts sharply with the trajectory of its rival, Suno<\/strong>, which has taken a markedly different approach to industry relations since the two AI platforms were jointly sued by the RIAA on behalf of all three majors in mid-2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While Udio<\/strong> has embraced the ‘walled garden’ model championed by Universal Music Group<\/strong> \u2014 in which AI-generated music cannot be downloaded or distributed beyond the platform \u2014 Suno<\/strong> has resisted that framework.<\/p>\n

A public dispute erupted in February<\/a> between Suno<\/strong> and UMG<\/strong> over the issue, with UMG<\/strong>‘s EVP and Chief Digital Officer Michael Nash<\/strong> indicating that the ‘walled garden’ principle was a key factor in why Universal<\/strong> had not reached a settlement with Suno<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Warner Music Group<\/strong> struck a deal with Suno<\/a> in November 2025<\/strong>, but on notably different terms: Suno<\/strong> retained the ability for users to download songs, and pledged to launch “new, more advanced and licensed models” based on WMG<\/strong>‘s content in 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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As MBW<\/strong> founder Tim Ingham<\/strong> noted in a recent column<\/a>, 114<\/strong> days after that WMG<\/strong> announcement, such a licensed model is yet to materialize.<\/p>\n

Days after that column was published, Suno<\/strong> launched V5.5<\/a> on Friday (March 27) \u2014 an update introducing voice capture and personalization features, but one presumably still built on the same unlicensed foundation, WMG<\/strong>-licensed content aside.<\/p>\n

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Kobalt’s AI licensing footprint<\/h6>\n

The Udio<\/strong> partnership marks Kobalt<\/strong>‘s second significant licensing agreement with an AI music platform.<\/p>\n

In August 2025<\/strong>, the publisher struck a deal with ElevenLabs<\/a> for its Eleven Music platform. Eleven Music also struck a deal with indie recorded music org Merlin.<\/p>\n

In March 2026<\/strong>, Primary Wave Music<\/strong> announced a definitive agreement to acquire Kobalt from Francisco Partners<\/a>, in a deal expected to close in Q3 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Kobalt<\/strong> says it serves over 1 million<\/strong> songs across 10<\/strong> offices and represents, on average, over 35%<\/strong> of the top 100<\/strong> songs and albums in the US and the UK. Its songwriter and publisher clients include Max Martin<\/strong>, Karol G<\/strong>, Stevie Nicks<\/strong>, Phoebe Bridgers<\/strong>, The Foo Fighters<\/strong>, and Paul McCartney<\/strong>, among others.<\/p>\n

Udio<\/strong> was co-founded by former researchers at Google DeepMind<\/strong> and launched publicly in April 2024<\/strong> with backing from investors including a16z<\/strong>, Redpoint<\/strong>, will.i.am<\/strong>, and Steve Stoute<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The deal marks Kobalt\u2019s second AI music platform partnership, following its 2025 licensing agreement with ElevenLabs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7183,"featured_media":254817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7183"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254816"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254824,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254816\/revisions\/254824"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}