AI finally pays up: Beatoven.ai’s new Maestro AI music generation model promises royalties for artistsAI music startup Beatoven.ai has launched Maestro, a new generative AI music model that claims to pay ‘ongoing royalties’ to artists, composers and rights-holders whose work was used in training.
Unlike other AI music tools that have come under fire for allegedly scraping unlicensed material, Maestro is “fully licensed and fairly trained” through official deals with rightsholders and it’s the first such model to do so, according to Beatoven.ai. Its partners include Rightsify, Soundtrack Loops, Symphonic Music, Bobby Cole, Vadi Sound and Pro Sound Effects.

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At its core, Maestro powers Beatoven’s expanding suite of music generation and analysis tools, letting users create instrumental tracks that can be tailored by genre or style. Support for sound effects and even vocals is already planned for future updates. The company also offers an API, allowing developers to integrate music generation directly into apps and platforms.
By working with rights management platform Musical AI, the company says it can identify which licensed songs or musical elements influenced each generated track, and distribute royalties accordingly. In theory, that means whenever Maestro’s outputs rely on a specific work, the rightsholder gets paid.
“Human creativity and AI can go hand in hand,” says Beatoven.ai CEO and co-founder Mansoor Rahimat Khan [via Music Business Worldwide]. “Most tools try to mimic humans, whereas AI should push human creativity forward by generating what we’ve never heard before. Hallucinations in foundation models are a feature in music, not a bug.”
The launch arrives amid mounting lawsuits against AI companies like Suno and Udio, both of which face legal action from Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment over the alleged misuse of copyrighted recordings. By contrast, Beatoven.ai is positioning Maestro as a test case for how AI and rightsholders might actually coexist.
Advocates of ethical AI have also welcomed the move. Ed Newton-Rex, CEO of non-profit Fairly Trained, comments: “If you respect musicians, you license their music. Beatoven.ai is providing yet more compelling evidence that generative AI doesn’t need to be built by scraping the music of the world’s musicians.”
Meanwhile, Sean Power, CEO of Musical AI, frames the partnership as a blueprint: “We’re showing the world what a fair AI deal looks like: attribution, respect of rights, and ongoing payouts every time a work contributes to an output. Maestro is a major step towards this better future.”
Learn more at Beatoven.ai.
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