Spotify plans to launch its AI covers and remixes tool in early 2027 at $4 to $5 a month, FT reports

Spotify plans to launch its AI covers and remixes tool in the first quarter of 2027, and it’s weighing a price of $4 to $5 a month on top of Premium. The Financial Times reported both numbers on Friday, October 30, 2026, citing people familiar with the plans, and said the tool could be unveiled around the Grammy Awards, which take place on February 7, 2027.

Spotify declined to comment to the FT. The FT’s sources said neither the timing nor the price is final, according to Music Business Worldwide’s write-up of the report.

That fills 2 of the 3 blanks every licensing announcement for this tool has left open. When Believe and TuneCore signed on October 20, there was still no launch date, no add-on price and no payout rate. The payout rate is still missing.

How Spotify’s AI remix add-on would pay artists, according to the FT report

The tool lets paying Spotify subscribers use AI to make their own versions of songs by artists who opted in. The FT’s examples: a folk song reworked as a dance track, or a song that sounds as if a different artist is covering it.

Here’s how the money would move, according to the FT’s sources:

• Fans pay $4 to $5 a month for the add-on, on top of their Premium plan.
• Royalties from a fan’s remix go to the artists behind the original song.
• Spotify is building a way to add remixes to playlists, with their plays credited to the original track on Spotify’s charts.

Opting in happens artist by artist. Artists decide whether to take part even when their label has already licensed its catalog to Spotify for the tool, the FT reported.

Spotify and Universal have been meeting individual artists to bring their catalogs in. One source told the FT that today’s biggest stars have been harder to sign up than some veteran acts.

So the catalog at launch depends on 2 layers of yes: the rights holder’s, then the artist’s. And at the rights-holder level, 2 of the 3 majors still haven’t signed.

Which labels have signed Spotify’s AI covers and remixes deal, and which haven’t

Four rights holders have signed licensing deals for the tool so far:

• Universal Music Group, covering recorded music and publishing, announced at Spotify’s Investor Day on May 21, 2026. Co-CEO Alex Norström called it a “controlled” alternative to AI slop a few days later.
• Merlin, which licenses for independent labels, on August 4.
• Kobalt, the first publisher outside Universal, on August 13.
• Believe and TuneCore on October 20.

Sony Music Group and Warner Music Group are still negotiating, the FT reported. Both were on the list when Spotify announced in October 2025 that it would develop “artist-first” AI music products with Sony, Universal, Warner, Merlin and Believe.

Spotify has already said it doesn’t need them to launch. On the Q2 2026 earnings call on August 4, co-CEO Gustav Söderström answered the question directly:

“

So the answer is we do not need a deal with all the majors. We would like to have as many artists as possible, obviously, but we don't expect to have all artists.

He said the next step would be a research preview for a subset of users. On the Q3 2026 call on October 22, co-CEO Alex Norström confirmed Believe and TuneCore as partners. Spotify itself still hasn’t published a launch date or a price.

The price also matters for Spotify’s revenue per listener. KeyBanc estimated in September that AI music features could add about 2% to Spotify’s average revenue per user within 12 to 18 months.

If your music goes out through Universal, Merlin, Kobalt, Believe or TuneCore, your own opt-in decides whether fans can remix your songs when the tool goes live.