Universal Music Group (UMG) aims to leverage AI to enhance the experience of music lovers worldwide.
According to a news release, the company is teaming up with NVIDIA to improve fan engagement globally by deploying NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure alongside UMG’s music catalog, which spans millions of tracks across genres.
Per the release, the partnership focuses on three key objectives — music discovery, engagement, and creation — and the first two goals will utilize NVIDIA Music Flamingo, a large audio–language model that can understand and capture harmony, structure, timbre, lyrics, and cultural context for tracks of up to 15 minutes. The press release states the model has a “human-like understanding of songs,” and is expected to help fans discover music in new ways while giving artists opportunities to expand their audiences.
“We’re entering an era where a music catalog can be explored like an intelligent universe — conversational, contextual, and genuinely interactive,” said Richard Kerris, NVIDIA vice president and general manager of media, in the news release.
“By extending NVIDIA’s Music Flamingo with UMG’s unmatched catalog and creative ecosystem, we’re going to change how fans discover, understand, and engage with music on a global scale. And we’ll do it the right way: responsibly, with safeguards that protect artists’ work, ensure attribution, and respect copyright,” he continued.
The partnership also addresses concerns about the role of artists in AI-driven innovation. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, musicians including Kehlani and Victoria Monét have criticized AI’s growing presence in the industry, particularly as AI-generated artists have begun charting. Additionally, T.I. said he viewed AI as dangerous until Dr. Dre reshaped his perspective, per an AFROTECH™ report.
Others, however, have embraced the technology.
AFROTECH™ has also been following Timbaland as he’s promoted AI music tools, debuting his own AI artists and serving as a strategic adviser for the AI music creation platform Suno. Meanwhile, founder Isaiah Chavous raised $2 million for his AI-powered sound design platform, Noctal, which seeks to “preserve what makes art human,” per AFROTECH™.
Universal Music Group and NVIDIA seem to share Chavous’s intent, stating that they aim to place “artists at the center of responsible AI innovation,” in the press release. It will do so through an artist incubator that will gather artists, songwriters, and producers to test and design an AI-powered tool for their workflow. UMG wants to ensure solutions steer clear of “AI slop” outputs and can further authenticity, per the release.
“We’re excited to establish this ground-breaking strategic relationship which unites the world’s leading technology company with the world’s leading music company in a shared mission to harness revolutionary AI technology to dramatically advance the interests of the creative community and the role of music in global culture,” Sir Lucian Grainge, UMG’s chairman and CEO, said, in the press release.
“We look forward to working closely with NVIDIA to direct AI’s unprecedented transformational potential towards the service of artists and their fans as we work together to set new standards for innovation within the industry, while protecting and respecting copyright and human creativity,” he added.
