Spotify’s licensed AI covers and remixes tool finally has a target date. The streaming service plans to launch it in the first quarter of 2027 and could unveil it around the Grammy Awards in February, the Financial Times reported on Friday 30 October 2026, citing people familiar with the plans. Spotify is weighing a price of US$4 to US$5 a month on top of a Premium subscription, according to the report.
Spotify declined to comment to the FT, and the paper’s sources cautioned that neither the timing nor the price has been finalised. But the report fills in details that Spotify has not yet shared publicly, including how remixes will be paid and how they will count on Spotify’s charts. For anyone making or listening to AI-assisted music, it is the clearest picture yet of how a major streaming service plans to put generative AI in front of fans.
What the FT reported
According to the FT, as summarised by Music Business Worldwide and Reuters, the tool will let paying subscribers use AI to make their own versions of songs by artists who have opted in. The examples given include turning a folk song into a dance track, or creating a version of a song that sounds as if a different artist is covering it.
Under Spotify’s plan, royalties from fan-made remixes would go to the artists behind the original songs. Spotify is also building a way for remixes to be added to playlists, with their plays credited to the original tracks on Spotify’s charts, the FT’s sources said. The 69th Grammy Awards are scheduled for 7 February 2027.
The FT also reported that Spotify and Universal Music Group have been meeting individual artists to bring their catalogues into the tool, and that one person said today’s major stars have been harder to sign up than some veteran acts. Artists will make their own decision about taking part, even if their label has already licensed its catalogue to Spotify.
Who has signed up so far
Spotify has announced four licensing deals for the tool, each published on its newsroom:
- Universal Music Group, covering recorded music and music publishing, announced on 21 May 2026 at Spotify’s Investor Day in New York;
- Merlin, the digital licensing body for independent labels and distributors, on 4 August 2026;
- Kobalt, the independent music publisher, on 13 August 2026; and
- Believe and its self-release platform TuneCore, on 20 October 2026.
Sony Music and Warner Music are still negotiating, according to the FT. Spotify has said it does not need every major on board before launch. “So the answer is we do not need a deal with all the majors,” co-chief executive Gustav Söderström said on the company’s Q2 2026 earnings call on 4 August, according to Music Business Worldwide. He said the next step would be a research preview for a subset of users.
Spotify frames the product around consent, credit and compensation. When the Believe deal was announced, the two companies said the tool is “designed specifically for AI-powered remixes and covers, not entirely new works.” Believe and TuneCore will use a two-step consent process: artists first opt in to being considered for AI-related programs, and only then are offered the Spotify partnership.
How it differs from Suno and Udio
The FT noted that Spotify’s tool is different from AI music generators such as Suno, which create new songs from text prompts. Spotify’s version starts from an existing, licensed recording and lets a fan rework it. The remix stays linked to the original track and artist, which Spotify says is designed to drive listeners back to the source.
Söderström has pitched that as a new income stream for older catalogues. “If one of your fans creates a remix of your song, that actually increases the share of the streaming pool that you get,” he said at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference on 9 September, according to Music Business Worldwide. Bernstein analyst Ian Moore estimates that 7% to 8% of Spotify’s US subscribers could sign up for the tool by the end of 2028, the FT reported.
Why it matters
For artists and AI music creators
This is the major labels’ preferred model for AI music: licensed, opt-in, and paid back to the original artist. It sits alongside the labels’ push to stop unlicensed AI tracks sharing the royalty pool on equal terms, which Universal’s chief executive set out last week, as we reported in Universal Music: AI Slop Shouldn’t Be Paid Like Real Music. Spotify is already keeping slop out of its recommendations, covered in Spotify Pulls 50M AI Slop Tracks From Recommendations. The direction is clear: AI that builds on consented music gets a place on the platform, while mass-produced, undisclosed uploads get squeezed.
For the charts
If remix plays are credited to the original tracks, fan-made AI versions could lift human-made songs on Spotify’s own charts. That raises questions Spotify has not yet answered publicly, including how remixes will be labelled and how much they will count. The FT report refers to Spotify’s charts only. Official charts set their own rules: ARIA, for example, has excluded wholly AI-generated recordings since the chart dated 31 August 2026, while recordings that use generative AI in a supporting role remain eligible.
For Australia
No Australian price or launch date has been reported, and the US$4 to US$5 figure is not final. Australian independents may still be part of the story: Merlin’s members include Australian companies such as Mushroom Music and GYROstream, and the Merlin deal gives artists on labels under its Spotify agreement the option to take part. Whether any particular artist opts in is up to them.
What happens next
Watch for a research preview, any deals with Sony Music and Warner Music, and an official announcement from Spotify, possibly around the Grammys in February. Key details are still unknown, including final pricing, which countries get the tool first, and how remixes will be disclosed to listeners. Dizy will keep tracking each step.
Following AI music on Dizy
Spotify’s tool is for reworking other artists’ songs. Dizy charts original tracks, and artists declare whether a track is AI-assisted or AI-generated when they submit. See the Top 100, New releases, the Dance chart and the Folk chart, browse AI artists, or submit your track. For a guide to reading the numbers, see How to Read AI Music Charts Like a Cultural Top 40.
Sources
Reuters via CNA: Spotify targets 2027 launch for AI remix service, FT reports (30 October 2026)
ARIA: ARIA Charts set eligibility rules for recordings made with AI
