Udio and Kobalt have formed a strategic partnership. The announcement for the joint venture between the AI music start-up and the independent publisher notes that this “forges a path for collaboration” on Udio’s revamped AI music service, set to launch later this year.
The Kobalt deal marks the third partnership Udio has forged with the music industry establishment since November 2025. Already, Udio has announced deals with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group to license their works to train their AI models — but only if the artists and songwriters at those companies choose to opt-in.
Another key part of Udio’s deal with their first partner, UMG, in particular, included the stipulation that Udio would pivot its service from one that creates realistic songs at the click of a button to one — which was trained on unlicensed material — to a licensed model which enables users “make remixes, covers, and new songs using the voices of artists and compositions of songwriters who choose to participate,” as a press release puts it.
Udio’s relationship with the music industry was not always so collaborative. When it launched, the AI music company used copyrighted music without a license to train its models. Then, UMG, WMG and Sony Music banded together to file lawsuits against Udio and Suno, another AI music model creating songs in seconds, to accuse the platforms of copyright infringement on an “almost unimaginable scale.” The UMG and WMG partnerships effectively ended the two majors’ participation in the lawsuit against Udio. (Sony Music is still pursuing the lawsuit against Udio).
The partnership with Kobalt “establishes an important pathway for new revenue streams for Kobalt artists and songwriters,” the press release notes, but it provides no details as to how those revenue streams work or how songwriters can opt-in to participate.
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News of the Kobalt-Udio agreement comes just weeks after it was announced that Primary Wave would be acquiring Kobalt‘s worldwide operations, its catalog of owned copyrights and digital collection company amra. That deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to finalize in the latter half of 2026.
In a statement about the deal with Udio, Kobalt CEO Laurent Hubert says: “Our clients and songwriters rely on us to both protect them and to create new opportunities for their works in an ever-changing technology landscape. We look forward to working closely with Udio to develop these new possibilities and are excited for what this deal could mean for the thousands of songwriters, artists, producers and publishers we work with everyday.”
“We’re excited to partner with Kobalt and welcome its exceptional community of songwriters, artists, and creatives to Udio. Our focus is on expanding creative possibilities through AI, while ensuring artists’ rights are respected and fairly compensated every step of the way. Together with Kobalt, we’re unlocking new potential for both artists and Udio users,” adds Andrew Sanchez, co-founder and CEO of Udio.
