Spotify signs Believe to AI covers-and-remixes licensing deal; AI covers to pay royalties to artists and rights holders

What happened

On October 20, 2026, Believe (the Paris-based music company, parent of TuneCore) signed a licensing agreement with Spotify for Spotify's upcoming AI-powered covers-and-remixes tool. The announcement was made on Spotify's official newsroom, dated 2026-10-20.

Terms reported

• The license covers participating Believe and TuneCore artists and labels.
• AI-generated covers and remixes created with the tool will generate royalties for participating artists and the original rights holders.
• Participation is voluntary through a two-step artist opt-in process.
• The AI covers-and-remixes tool is expected to be a paid add-on for Spotify Premium subscribers.

Context

This follows Spotify's earlier AI-related licensing deals with Universal Music Group (May 2026), Merlin (August 4) and Kobalt (August 13). Sony Music and Warner Music have not signed comparable deals, per Music Business Worldwide. On the same day, Spotify disclosed that it kept 50 million AI-generated tracks out of its recommendations this year (reported by theinference.org), underscoring the platform's parallel licensing-and-moderation strategy for AI music.

Scope note

Spotify and Believe are not currently in the AI Used My Work company catalog; both are submitted as new companies (Spotify AB publishes the announcement on its own newsroom; Believe SAS is the named licensor). TuneCore is Believe's product and is not created as a separate company.