Music IP Holdings (MIH) has unveiled a broad patent framework for generative AI platforms.
According to MIH, which was formed out of a strategic partnership between Universal Music Group and Liquidax, the patent framework is designed to “drive responsible innovation while providing additional ways to protect artists, songwriters and their music”.
Udio and GRAI are the first technology companies to license the MIH patents, a move which will support the development of licensed AI services including covers, remixes and a wide range of interactive music experiences.
The licenses also provide additional protections designed to address the unauthorised redistribution of AI-generated content beyond their services. The patents extend beyond music to content including audio, video, film, animation, images and text, as well as applications involving name and likeness.
The patent portfolio is available to license now for other platforms.
MIH holds and manages a portfolio of more than 24 patents, with a further 50-plus patents pending.
In a statement, MIH said: “The portfolio spans the full process of creating, licensing and commercialising AI-generated content: from the moment a prompt is entered through moderation, watermarking, identifier tagging, authorisation, licensed distribution and payment across both open and closed ecosystems.”
Barefoot Media, led by CEO Bill Campbell, is supporting MIH in bringing the portfolio to market and developing licensing opportunities across the technology and creative industries.
The patent framework will provide additional protections for rights-holders. As part of its previously announced collaboration with MIH, Universal Music Group, its affiliates, artists and songwriters and other participating rights-holders will be able to utilise the portfolio to further protect their works against unlicensed and unauthorised generative AI uses.
Daniel Drolet, CEO of Music IP Holdings (MIH), said: “Artists and songwriters shouldn’t have to choose between embracing AI and protecting their life’s work. And responsible AI companies should have a clear path to innovate. This portfolio is designed to do both: creating new opportunities for responsible innovation while giving artists, songwriters and rights-holders stronger protections and the ability to share in the value their work creates. The portfolio was developed to enable a standard that provides creators of all types the ability to generate, track and ensure new AI revenue streams while simultaneously providing strong options to manage unauthorised AI outputs.”
Artists and songwriters shouldn’t have to choose between embracing AI and protecting their life’s work
Daniel Drolet
Andrew Sanchez, founder and CEO of Udio, said: “This is a genuine inflection point for AI and music. With MIH, we're partnering to implement the infrastructure that protects artists and establish the guardrails that ensure AI amplifies human creativity. That work – the technology, the licensing, the partnerships – is what makes the next chapter one artists can actually build on."
Ilya Liasun, CEO and co-founder of GRAI, said: “Nobody has ever been just a listener. We drum a song on the steering wheel, cry to it in a parked car, send it to a friend at one in the morning. GRAI is building a social streaming service where music moves between people. And when someone puts something of their own into a song they love, the artist is asked, credited and paid, every time. These patents are what make that possible."
Bill Campbell, CEO of Barefoot Media, said: “Throughout every major shift in digital music, the most successful models have been built by bringing technology companies and rights-holders together around clear, practical licensing frameworks. MIH’s portfolio creates that bridge for generative AI – giving responsible innovators a path to market while helping protect artists, songwriters and the value of their work. Barefoot Media is proud to help bring this framework to the global creative and technology communities.”
Chris Horton, EVP, strategic technology at Universal Music Group, said: “These patents are an important way to reinforce the strategy we believe will play a critical role in the next era of music: embracing ethical innovation that puts artists and songwriters at the centre, with greater agency, influence and value-chain participation for the creative community. We are thrilled to join MIH, music companies and responsible technology enterprises in building an AI music ecosystem that works for everyone, especially the creative forces that make it all possible.”
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