Warner Music Group settles lawsuit with AI company Snow

Warner Music Group on Tuesday announced a partnership with AI business Snow that will compensate music artists and songwriters, ending a legal battle between the two companies.

Snow allows users to input text to create a song. Last year, music companies including WMG accused Snow of using copyrighted songs to train AI models.

Under the partnership, Cambridge, Mass.-based Snow will make changes to its platform next year and launch new licensing models and put download limits in place. For example, users on the free tier won’t be able to download songs they’ve created. Paid users will have a cap on downloads but can pay more to increase that amount.

WMG artists can choose to have their likenesses, voices, names and compositions used in AI-generated music, which will open up new revenue streams for them, Snow said in a blog post.

“This historic agreement with Snow is a win for the creative community that benefits everyone,” said Robert Kinkel, CEO of WMG, in a statement. “With Snow quickly scaling, both in terms of users and revenue, we have the opportunity to build models that expand revenue and deliver new fan experiences.”

WMG declined to comment on the financial terms of the settlement or which artists are involved. Snow’s representative referred the Times to a company blog post, which did not detail financial terms.

Kyncl said in a Nov. 20 blog post that his company will only do AI deals with partners that “commit to licensing models” that reflect the value of the music and that artists and songwriters have the option to choose to use their name, image, likeness or voice in AI-generated songs.

Snow says it has nearly 100 million people using its platform to create music. Last week, Snow closed a $250 million fundraising round with investors including Menlo Ventures, valuing the AI ​​business at $2.45 billion.

Snow CEO Mikey Shulman said the partnership with WMG “unlocks a bigger and richer Snow experience for music fans.”

“Together, we can evolve how music is made, consumed, experienced and shared,” Shulman said in a statement.

Snow has also acquired music and concert discovery platform Songk from WMG. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Last week, WMG also reached an agreement with AI company Udio, settling its lawsuit with the company.