Voice AI startup takes aim at generative music industry by prioritising legal use and rights-holder partnerships
ElevenLabs, a voice-focused AI startup best known for its speech synthesis technologies, has officially launched Eleven Music, a new AI-powered platform that enables users to generate original music tracks in seconds. But what sets it apart from the growing crop of AI music tools is a clear emphasis on legal licensing and commercial usability — a space that has so far remained murky for creators and businesses.
Unveiled earlier this week, Eleven Music offers users the ability to generate vocals, lyrics, instrumentation, and full tracks across multiple genres. The company claims the platform is not only creative and fast but also commercially viable, thanks to licensing arrangements with rights-holding organizations.
Cleared for Commercial Use
At the core of Eleven Music’s value proposition is its alignment with licensing protocols, allowing artists, advertisers, content creators, and developers to use AI-generated music without fear of legal infringement. According to the company, the system has been trained only on licensed data or public domain content — unlike many competing tools trained on copyrighted works scraped from the internet.
In a statement, ElevenLabs emphasized that “every element of the music generation pipeline — including vocal styles — is backed by explicit rights agreements.” This ensures businesses can use the tracks for streaming, advertising, games, films, and more, with full legal clarity.
CEO Mati Staniszewski highlighted that the goal of Eleven Music is to eliminate the “copyright grey zones” surrounding AI-generated content. “We see AI not as a replacement for artists, but as a tool to democratize music creation — one that respects intellectual property,” he noted.
Partnerships with Rights Holders
To solidify its commitment to responsible AI use, ElevenLabs has reportedly partnered with several rights-holding entities and vocalists who have licensed their voices for training the system. While the full list of collaborators has not yet been disclosed, the company mentioned working with a number of independent music libraries, session musicians, and vocal artists.
The system currently offers 20 AI-generated voices, each trained and licensed with the consent of real performers. These voice models can sing lyrics in multiple languages, adapt to various musical genres, and allow creators to tweak tempo, tone, and mood in real time.
Designed for Speed and Creativity
In terms of user experience, Eleven Music offers a web-based interface where users can enter prompts, upload lyrics, or select musical themes to quickly generate tracks. The platform’s engine handles the arrangement and rendering, delivering a finished audio file within minutes.
Beta testers have noted the tool’s usability for creating background scores for podcasts, ad jingles, indie game soundtracks, and YouTube intros. While it may not replace studio production for high-budget films, it opens the door for cost-effective, rapid prototyping.
ElevenLabs stated that they are working on adding custom voice model uploads and deeper integration with video-editing and DAW (digital audio workstation) software. An API is also in development, allowing developers to plug Eleven Music into their own applications.
Addressing Industry Concerns Around AI and IP
The launch of Eleven Music comes at a time when the music industry is grappling with the ethical and legal implications of generative AI. Recent controversies involving deepfake voice models of popular artists and unlicensed AI remixes have raised questions about consent, attribution, and royalties.
By building licensing into its foundation, ElevenLabs is positioning itself as a platform that bridges the gap between creativity and compliance. The company has also expressed openness to working with major labels and collecting societies in the future to expand its licensed voice and sample library.
Music industry analysts view the move as a potential turning point. “The demand for AI-generated music is exploding, but most solutions are not commercially usable due to rights issues. ElevenLabs is addressing that head-on,” said a consultant quoted by TechCrunch.
What’s Next for ElevenLabs
ElevenLabs has seen rapid growth since its founding in 2022, starting with AI voice synthesis for film dubbing, gaming, and audiobooks. The expansion into music signifies its broader ambitions in content generation. The startup has raised over $100 million to date from investors including a16z and Sequoia Capital, and currently counts millions of users across its voice platform.
With Eleven Music, the company joins a growing list of generative music tools such as Stability AI’s AudioCraft, Google’s MusicLM, and Suno. However, its emphasis on legal transparency could be a differentiating factor in the eyes of enterprise users and content creators.
The service is currently free to try in beta, with premium tiers expected for commercial licenses. ElevenLabs says it will continue refining the system based on user feedback and will introduce new voices, genres, and editing tools in the coming months.