ElevenLabs officially launched ElevenMusic on April 29, 2026, with coverage from Billboard, Music Ally, and TechCrunch within hours of the announcement. The launch followed a soft iOS release on April 1, 2026 — described by TechCrunch as a ‘quiet release’ — and the August 2025 launch of ElevenLabs’ original AI music model. The April 29 event is the full official launch with the complete feature set, licensing infrastructure, and artist programme in place.
The announcement came alongside an AI-generated album featuring Liza Minnelli and Art Garfunkel — a deliberate choice to demonstrate that ElevenMusic is positioned within the mainstream music ecosystem rather than as a tool for anonymous AI content generation. Derek Cournoyer, ElevenLabs’ music strategy lead, stated the company is building ‘with the artist and songwriter communities, not around them’ — a direct response to criticism from AI-rights advocates including Ed Newton-Rex, who has been publicly challenging ElevenLabs’ music practices.
What ElevenMusic Actually Does
Create: Original Track Generation
Users generate original music by prompting from three starting points: lyrics (provide your own text and the AI sets it to music), melody (hum or describe a melodic idea and the AI develops it), or mood (describe the emotional or sonic quality you want and the AI generates a complete track). This three-path approach to generation is more flexible than most competitors, which primarily offer prompt-to-track generation without the lyric or melody input options.
The generation model is built on ElevenLabs’ fully licensed music model — originally launched in August 2025 and claimed to be commercially safe from that release. The March 2026 update added stem separation (download vocals and instrumentals separately), an Inpainting API for editing specific sections of generated tracks, and Music Finetunes for training a custom model on your own audio. These production-grade features are available to Pro subscribers.
Remix: Transforming Existing Music
Users can remix any track on the platform — including tracks generated by other users — by modifying genre, tempo, instrumentation, or mood through text prompts. ‘Make this more aggressive and faster with heavy drums’, ‘change this to acoustic jazz’, ‘add a string section and remove the electronic elements’. Remixes count toward monthly generation limits but create derivative works that users can publish under their own account. The remix feature is the core mechanism of the fan engagement layer ElevenLabs is building.
Stream: Discovery and Listening
ElevenMusic functions as a full streaming platform — live stations by mood, curated albums, daily mixes (Focus, Energy, Relax, Late Night, Cosmic, Chill), trending charts, and new releases. This streaming layer is what transforms ElevenMusic from a generation tool into a platform with recurring engagement. Users return to discover what others have created, not just to generate for themselves — the behaviour pattern that creates platform stickiness.
The Licensing Foundation: Kobalt and Merlin
The two licensing deals that underpin ElevenMusic’s ‘fully licensed’ claim are with Kobalt and Merlin — announced in August 2025 alongside the original music model launch.
Kobalt is one of the largest music publishing companies in the world, representing artists including Paul McCartney, Lorde, and The Weeknd. A licensing deal with Kobalt gives ElevenLabs access to a substantial catalogue of published compositions for training and potentially for inspiration. Merlin is the global digital licensing agency for independent record labels — representing over 15,000 independent labels and distributors globally, covering a significant proportion of non-major-label recorded music. A deal with Merlin gives ElevenLabs access to independent recorded music at scale.
Together these deals position ElevenMusic’s training data as licensed rather than scraped — the key distinction that allows the platform to claim commercial safety for content generated on it. For creators producing content for YouTube, advertising, or commercial projects, this distinction determines whether the AI music is usable without legal risk.
Related: ElevenLabs AI Sound Effects guide — royalty-free audio for creators in 2026
The Artist Economy Model
The most forward-looking feature of ElevenMusic at launch is the artist publishing programme. Musicians can publish original tracks or remixes created on the platform, grow an audience within the ElevenMusic discovery layer, and earn from their music. The specific revenue share and earning mechanism were not fully detailed in the launch announcement — ElevenLabs indicated the model is designed to create a ‘new gateway into DJing’ and compensate artists for audience-building activity on the platform.
This positions ElevenMusic as more than a generation tool — it is a distribution and monetisation layer for AI-assisted music, analogous to what Bandcamp or SoundCloud provide for independent artists but with AI generation as the creation tool rather than traditional recording. If the artist economy model is implemented credibly and the platform achieves scale, it represents a genuinely new income stream for independent musicians who can build an audience around their AI-generated and AI-remixed content.
| Feature | ElevenMusic | Suno | Udio |
| Licensed music model | Yes — Kobalt, Merlin deals | Licensing status less clear | Licensing status less clear |
| Generation from lyrics | Yes — full lyric input | Yes | Yes |
| Generation from melody | Yes | Limited | Limited |
| Remix other users’ tracks | Yes — core feature | Limited | Limited |
| Streaming discovery layer | Full platform — charts, stations, mixes | Limited web player | Limited |
| Artist publishing & earning | Yes — launch feature | Not available | Not available |
| Stem separation | Yes — Pro feature | Limited | Limited |
| Music Finetunes (custom model) | Yes — Pro feature | No | No |
| Free plan | 7 songs/day | ~10 songs/day | Limited |
| Pro pricing | $9.99/mo or $95.90/yr | $8/mo | ~$9.99/mo |
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Monthly Tracks | Storage | Key Features |
| Free | $0 | 7/day (~210/month) | Standard | Generation from mood/lyrics/melody, streaming, basic remixing |
| Pro | $9.99/mo or $95.90/yr | 500 tracks | 500GB | All styles, stem separation, Music Finetunes, artist publishing |
Related: Full ElevenLabs pricing guide — all tiers including Creator and Pro plans
Three Insights Most ElevenMusic Coverage Misses
1. The Liza Minnelli / Art Garfunkel Album Is a Strategic Signal, Not Just a Marketing Stunt
The AI-generated album featuring Liza Minnelli and Art Garfunkel — announced alongside the ElevenMusic launch — is not primarily a consumer product. It is a public demonstration that ElevenLabs has secured consent from named, well-known artists to use their voice and likeness in AI-generated music. In the current regulatory environment where voice cloning consent and deepfake audio legislation is actively being drafted, launching with documented, consensual artist participation is a strategic positioning move that protects ElevenLabs from the regulatory scrutiny facing competitors who have not taken this approach.
2. ElevenMusic’s Real Competition Is Not Suno — It Is Spotify
Coverage of ElevenMusic consistently frames it against Suno and Udio as competing AI music generation tools. The more accurate competitive frame is Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud. ElevenMusic’s streaming layer — live stations, mood-based mixes, trending charts, artist publishing — is built to capture daily listening time, not just generation sessions. If ElevenMusic succeeds, users spend 30 minutes per day listening on the platform, not just opening it to generate a track once a week. That listening behaviour is what the music industry calls a streaming platform, and that is the market ElevenLabs is ultimately entering.
3. The Ed Newton-Rex Factor — ElevenLabs Is Fighting a Reputation Battle
AI-rights advocate Ed Newton-Rex has been publicly challenging ElevenLabs’ music practices in the months leading up to the ElevenMusic launch. ElevenLabs’ repeated emphasis on ‘fully licensed’, ‘artist-first by design’, and ‘building with artist and songwriter communities, not around them’ in the launch materials is a direct response to this pressure. The Kobalt and Merlin licensing deals, the artist publishing programme, and the consensual AI album are all elements of a reputation management strategy as much as a product strategy. For creators evaluating whether ElevenMusic is safe to use commercially, this context matters — ElevenLabs is under active scrutiny and is investing in licensing infrastructure specifically because of it.
ElevenMusic in 2027
The ElevenMusic roadmap through 2027 will likely cover three expansions. Android availability — the April 1 launch was iOS-only, with no Android timeline announced; this gap will close within the normal 3-6 month platform expansion window. Expanded artist earning mechanisms — the initial launch indicates artist compensation exists but does not detail the revenue share model; as the platform scales, transparent artist payout rates will be required to compete with SoundCloud and Bandcamp for independent artist adoption. And web platform expansion — the streaming and generation features currently available in the iOS app will migrate to a full web interface, expanding the accessible audience beyond iPhone users.
Key Takeaways
- ElevenMusic officially launched April 29, 2026 — fully licensed via Kobalt and Merlin deals, artist-first design, connecting creation, remixing, and streaming in one platform.
- Three generation paths: from lyrics, from melody, from mood — more flexible input options than most competitors.
- The artist publishing and earning programme is the most differentiated feature — no other AI music platform offers credible monetisation for artist-generated content at this scale.
- Free plan: 7 songs/day. Pro: $9.99/month for 500 tracks, stem separation, Music Finetunes, and artist publishing.
- Currently iOS only. Android and web platform availability not announced at launch.
Conclusion
ElevenMusic’s April 29, 2026 official launch is the most significant ElevenLabs product release of the year. The fully licensed model, artist economy layer, and three-path generation system position it not just as another AI music tool but as ElevenLabs’ bid to own the AI music streaming category — not just the generation category. For creators already in the ElevenLabs ecosystem, ElevenMusic integrates AI music generation into the same platform used for voice narration, sound effects, and dubbing. For independent musicians, the artist publishing programme is worth evaluating as the licensing and payout model becomes clearer in the months following launch. Download ElevenMusic on iOS and test the free tier — seven songs per day is sufficient to evaluate the generation quality before any subscription decision.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did ElevenMusic officially launch?
ElevenMusic officially launched on April 29, 2026. A soft iOS release occurred on April 1, 2026. The August 2025 AI music model was the underlying technology launch preceding both.
Is ElevenMusic’s music licensed?
ElevenLabs states ElevenMusic is built on a ‘fully licensed music model’ with licensing deals from Kobalt (major music publisher) and Merlin (global independent label licensing agency). These deals were announced in August 2025 alongside the original music model.
Can artists earn money on ElevenMusic?
Yes — the April 29 launch introduced an artist publishing programme allowing musicians to publish tracks and remixes, grow an audience on the platform, and earn from their music. Specific revenue share rates were not detailed at launch.
How does ElevenMusic compare to Suno?
ElevenMusic offers more generation input paths (lyrics, melody, mood versus primarily mood/prompt in Suno), a more complete streaming discovery platform, and an artist monetisation programme. Suno has two years of community testing and currently has a more established reputation for generation quality. ElevenMusic’s fully licensed model is a significant differentiator for commercial use.
Methodology
Launch details from Billboard (April 29-30, 2026), Music Ally (April 30, 2026), and TechCrunch (April 2, 2026) coverage. Licensing deal information from ElevenLabs announcements (August 2025). Feature specifications from ElevenLabs official ElevenMusic documentation and iOS App Store listing. Competitor comparison from Suno and Udio official pricing and feature documentation (April 2026). This article was drafted with AI assistance and reviewed by the editorial team at ElevenLabsMagazine.com.
References
Billboard. (April 29, 2026). ElevenLabs revamps ElevenMusic as an AI music creation, remixing and streaming service. https://www.billboard.com/pro/elevenlabs-revamps-ai-music-platform-fan-focused-service/
Music Ally. (April 30, 2026). ElevenLabs launches ElevenMusic as ‘not just a listening app’. https://musically.com/2026/04/30/elevenlabs-launches-elevenmusic-as-not-just-a-listening-app/
TechCrunch. (April 2, 2026). ElevenLabs releases a new AI-powered music-generation app. https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/02/elevenlabs-releases-a-new-ai-powered-music-generation-app/
