MUSIC TECHNOLOGY COMPANY KLAY SIGNS FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND AI LICENSING DEALS WITH UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP, UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING GROUP, SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING, WARNER MUSIC GROUP & WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC
MUSIC TECHNOLOGY COMPANY KLAY SIGNS FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND AI LICENSING DEALS WITH UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP, UNIVERSAL MUSIC PUBLISHING GROUP, SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING, WARNER MUSIC GROUP & WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC
Music Technology Company Helping to Pioneer AI Licensing
Los Angeles, CA (November 20, 2025) – Los Angeles-based music technology company KLAY Vision Inc. has closed separate AI licensing agreements with Universal Music Group (UMG), Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), Sony Music Entertainment (SME), Sony Music Publishing (SMP), Warner Music Group (WMG), and Warner Chappell Music (WCM). These agreements establish terms on which KLAY will help further evolve music experiences for fans, leveraging the potential of AI, while fully respecting the rights of artists, songwriters, and rightsholders.
At a time when many AI music projects are accused of unethical training protocols and practices towards the artistic community, KLAY has, from the beginning, taken a unique path, working in partnership with the music industry to pioneer a new active listening model designed to enhance both human creativity and the consumer experience. The platform reimagines listening with immersive, interactive tools powered by KLAY’s Large Music Model, trained entirely on licensed music. All experiences created through the platform will enhance, rather than replace, human creativity, ensuring artistry remains at the center and copyright is diligently protected.
KLAY is not a prompt-based meme generation engine designed to supplant human artists. Rather, it is an entirely new subscription product that will uplift great artists and celebrate their craft. Within KLAY’s system, fans can mold their musical journeys in new ways while ensuring participating artists and songwriters are properly recognized and rewarded.
Over more than a year, KLAY has been working with key parties in the music industry to build an innovative and comprehensive licensing framework for an AI-driven music experience. KLAY is currently expanding its efforts to include all independent labels, artists, publishers, and songwriters in this framework, creating a scalable foundation for the industry at large. Together, KLAY and its partners across all sectors of the industry are establishing the guardrails, attribution systems, and cultural dialogue necessary for AI to serve as a force multiplier for artistry.
KLAY’s leadership brings unmatched experience at the intersection of artistry, business, and technology: Ary Attie (Founder & CEO; musician), Thomas Hesse (Co-Founder & Chief Content and Commercial Officer; former President, Global Digital Business & US Sales & Distribution, Sony Music Entertainment), Björn Winckler (Chief AI Officer; former leader of Google DeepMind’s music initiatives), and Brian Whitman (Chief Technology Officer; former Principal Scientist at Spotify and Founder of The Echo Nest).
Ary Attie, Founder & CEO, KLAY said: “Technology is shaped by the people behind it and the people who use it. At KLAY, from the beginning, we set out to earn the trust of the artists and songwriters whose work makes all of this possible. We will continue to operate with those values, bringing together a growing community to reimagine how music can be shared, enjoyed, and valued. Our goal is simple: to help people experience more of the music they love, in ways that were never possible before—while helping create new value for artists and songwriters. Music is human at its core. Its future must be too.”
Michael Nash, EVP, Chief Digital Officer, UMG said: “We are very pleased to have concluded a commercial license with KLAY Vision, following up on our industry-first strategic collaboration framework agreement announced one year ago. The supportive role we played with the capable and diversified management team of Ary, Thomas, Björn and Brian in the development of their product and business model extends our long-standing commitment to entrepreneurial innovation in the digital music ecosystem. We’re excited about their transformational vision and applaud their commitment to ethicality in Generative AI music, which has been a key foundation of our partnership with them from the very start of their journey.”
Dennis Kooker, President, Global Digital Business, SME said: “We are pleased to partner with KLAY Vision to collaborate on new generative AI products. While this is a beginning, we want to work with companies that understand that proper licenses are needed from rightsholders to build next-generation AI music experiences.”
Carletta Higginson, EVP, Chief Digital Officer, WMG said: “Our goal is always to support and elevate the creativity of our artists and songwriters, while fiercely protecting their rights and works. From day one, KLAY has taken the right approach to the rapidly-evolving AI universe by creating a holistic platform that both expands artistic possibilities and preserves the value of music. We appreciate the KLAY team’s work in advancing this technology and guiding these important agreements.”
About KLAY:
KLAY is advancing the state of the art in Music AI and innovating for the next generation of music experiences. The company will launch in the coming months with a platform designed to revolutionize how people connect with and experience music. Led by Ary Attie, Founder & CEO and musician; Thomas Hesse, Co-Founder & Chief Content and Commercial Officer and former President of Global Digital Business & US Sales & Distribution at Sony Music Entertainment, who helped drive the industry into the streaming era, following earlier milestones such as iTunes’ pay-per-song launch and the creation of VEVO; Björn Winckler, Chief AI Officer and former Senior Researcher at Google DeepMind, where he led the development of Lyria and other groundbreaking AI music models; and Brian Whitman, Chief Technology Officer and former Principal Scientist at Spotify and Founder of The Echo Nest, the pioneering recommendation company acquired by Spotify, KLAY unites world-class expertise at the intersection of music, technology, and AI. The company is rapidly expanding its team across research, copyright, and product to shape the future of music and ensure AI serves as a creative ally to artists, songwriters, and fans worldwide. Learn more about KLAY here.
About Universal Music Group:
At Universal Music Group, we exist to shape culture through the power of artistry. UMG is the world leader in music-based entertainment, with a broad array of businesses engaged in recorded music, music publishing, merchandising and audiovisual content. Featuring the most comprehensive catalogue of recordings and songs across every musical genre, UMG identifies and develops artists and produces and distributes the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful music in the world. Committed to artistry, innovation and entrepreneurship, UMG fosters the development of services, platforms and business models in order to broaden artistic and commercial opportunities for our artists and create new experiences for fans. For more information on Universal Music Group visit: www.universalmusic.com.
About Universal Music Publishing Group:
Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), the global publishing division of Universal Music Group, represents a world-class catalogue of songs inclusive of every genre. Headquartered in Los Angeles, UMPG has 48 offices in 41 countries. The company represents some of the world’s most important songwriters and catalogs. UMPG is also a global leader in Classical & Screen, Christian/Gospel and Production Music. The company is the publisher of choices for film and TV studios, providing creative, sync licensing and administration services for companies including Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount, Disney Europe (and other territories), Viacom, Amazon, HBO, DreamWorks, DreamWorks Animation, Legendary Pictures, Mar Vista Entertainment, NBC and Sesame Workshop, among many others.
