4 MIN READ
Picture a music industry that has finally stopped pretending the AI music lawsuits were going to go away on their own. The 2024 cases against Suno, Udio, and Anthropic were the start. The 2025 settlements opened the door. The 2026 deals formalised the framework, and the shape of every AI music publishing deal for the next several years sits inside them.
Three groups of deals sit at the centre of the framework, three terms decide how much each one is worth, and three things to watch will tell you whether the next wave keeps the shape or breaks it.
The categories of deals
Training rights leads, and the shape of the deal has already been written. Major labels license the back catalogue to the AI music vendors for training, the licence includes a revenue share on the AI generated output, and the typical run is 3 to 5 years. The Warner Music deal with Suno is the canonical example. Output rights handles the AI generated output itself. Major labels license the AI generated output back to themselves for distribution on their streaming platforms, with a revenue share that typically splits 50/50. Attribution rights covers the credit. AI music vendors agree to credit songwriters and publishers in the output, and the credit typically runs as a distribution requirement. Most 2026 deals bundle all three.
The terms that matter
Scope decides the deal value. It defines what the AI vendor can do with the training data, covers commercial use, derivative use, and the attribution requirement. Narrower scope, lower value. The output revenue share sits next, defining how the AI vendor and the label split the revenue from the AI generated output, with the share typically landing at 50/50 across streaming and sync. The opt out term closes the trio. Songwriters can opt out of the training, but they have to register, and the registration window is usually 30 to 60 days after the deal signing. All three together determine what the deal is worth.
What to watch
Beggars Group, Secretly Group, and Merge Records have not signed yet. They will, on the major label terms, and the gap will close. The songwriter opt out campaign is the part worth tracking. Songwriters are organising, the campaigns will affect the training data quality, and the campaigns will reshape the deals. AI vendors are also building the attribution systems, and once those land, attribution stops being optional. The next wave of deals gets determined by all three.
The bottom line
The 2026 deals have set the framework, and the next several years of AI music publishing sit inside it. Read it correctly and the deals keep getting signed. Miss it and the labels are reading the new fine the next time a regulator asks a question.
Sources & Further Reading
All claims in this article are sourced from primary documentation, vendor advisories, and reputable security researchers.
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