Nearly 300 AI licensing deals are signed, but only 16% of indie labels are exploring them

Nearly 300 commercial AI deals have been signed across the creative industries, but a new report shows almost none of that activity reaches independent labels. Only 16% of the UK’s indie label members have even started exploring AI licensing partnerships.

The numbers come from a BPI-commissioned WPI Economics report based on surveys of labels and consumers. The Featured Artists Coalition cited it on June 22, 2026, the same day a coalition of 31 creator groups demanded consent in AI deals.

What the BPI report actually counts

The headline figure is the deal count. Around 300 commercial AI agreements have materialized across a range of creative sectors, with 274 in place as of early 2026.

One caveat matters. The count covers commercial AI pacts broadly, not strictly generative-music licensing. So it’s a measure of how fast rightsholders are signing something with AI companies, not a clean tally of music-generation deals alone.

Either way, the direction is clear. The deal-making is real, it’s accelerating, and the biggest catalogs are leading it, from the major-label stakes in Suno and Udio to the NMPA template deals to the Spotify remix product.

Why only 16% of indie labels are exploring AI deals

Now the gap. While the majors stack up agreements, fewer than one in five BPI indie members have begun even looking at a licensing partnership.

That isn’t apathy. A major label has the catalog scale, the legal team, and the leverage to negotiate an AI deal, and in some cases an equity stake to sweeten it. An independent label with a few hundred releases and no in-house lawyers has none of that. The door is open in theory. Walking through it is a different thing.

What the gap means for independent artists

If you’re independent, the takeaway is uncomfortable. The deals being struck right now set the market terms, the rates, and the norms for how AI uses recorded music. They’re being written almost entirely by parties you’re not in the room with.

That’s why the report landed next to the consent open letter. Both point at the same problem from different ends. One says artists aren’t being consulted. The other shows independents aren’t even at the table to consult.