NMPA Strikes Landmark Licensing Deals with AI Music Companies Udio & KLAY

At the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) annual meeting on Wednesday (June 10), president and CEO David Israelite announced the “first-ever industry-wide AI licensing deals” for publisher members with AI music firms Udio and KLAY, in his words. He also announced the AI Songs Summit, a gathering in Nashville this fall that will bring together songwriters, publishers, streaming services and other stakeholders to discuss the opportunities and challenges of AI.

“Litigating against bad AI actors and licensing good AI partners is not in conflict,” Israelite explained. “NMPA will do both… There has been hesitancy to make mistakes in these early deals, but there has not been any deal offered across the entire market until today.”

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Importantly, Israelite noted in his speech that these AI deals offer publishers equal compensation to record labels on the AI training side. Whether or not publishing receives equal pay on the output side of AI licensing was not addressed in the presentation.

Equal pay for masters and publishing in AI licensing has been a goal of Israelite’s for the last few years. At the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) Grammy week event in 2025, he addressed this, saying, “I believe the most important principle is that the song is just as valuable, if not more, than the sound recording in the AI model,” he said, adding, “I am fearful that as these models develop, if we do not protect our rights, we will find ourselves in a situation where we are not getting as much or more than the sound recording when it comes to revenue… That is a responsibility of this entire community to fight for that.”

The NMPA annual meeting takes place each summer and acts as a state of the union for music publishers, gathering together the highest-level executives and songwriters to go over financials for the business, hand out awards to songwriters and their business champions, and have talent perform their greatest hits. This year, the company honored P!nk as its Songwriter Icon for 2026 and Julian Bunetta (“Lose Control,” “Espresso,” “Night Changes”) as its Non-Performing Songwriter Icon.

Israelite also often uses the stage to debut a bombshell announcement, with this year’s being the new landmark AI deals with Udio and KLAY. The license gets the two AI music companies much closer to full music industry support. In a business in which ownership of intellectual property is often divided among several stakeholders represented by a number of different companies, it has historically been a challenging and lengthy process for tech companies to get the widespread support needed to be properly licensed.

Israelite said of Udio: “I thank CEO and co-founder Andrew Sanchez , who is with us today, for his collaboration. Most importantly, this deal delivers something that we have always demanded: Songs are just as important, if not more than sound recordings, when it comes to AI… Starting on Monday, NMPA members in good standing will have the opportunity to review and join this groundbreaking deal.”

Udio and KLAY have previously received industry support. After the former was sued by the three major music companies in a $500 million copyright infringement lawsuit in June 2024 for allegedly training on unlicensed sound recordings, it shifted its platform from creating new AI songs in seconds to remixing licensed, pre-existing songs — and received support and reconciliation from the music business in doing so. In the last year, Udio has inked licensing deals with Universal Music Group (UMG), Warner Music Group (WMG) and Kobalt , all of which are NMPA members, as well as Merlin on the sound recording side.

KLAY, which also will offer customization of licensed songs using AI, has periodically made announcements about its progress with music licensing but has not yet launched, though according to the NMPA, the platform will finally debut later this summer. Previous deals between KLAY and music companies include UMG, WMG and Sony on the master and publishing sides, all of which are members of the NMPA.

KLAY’s proactive approach to achieving full music licensing before its launch is unique in the AI music space. The company is helmed by musician and CEO Ary Attie , while Thomas Hesse , former president of global digital business and U.S. sales and distribution at Sony Music, acts as its chief content and commercial officer.

Said Israelite, “This deal will launch later this summer, as NMPA members in good standing will receive instructions about how to opt-in… Both of these agreements represent real progress toward AI and creators working together and benefiting both sides, and for companies that don’t take this approach, you know what’s coming.”

While Israelite expressed a willingness to harness the opportunities of AI licensing for songwriters and publishers, he also reminded the crowd of what he sees as one of the biggest challenges it presents: streaming fraud.

“AI is being used to hypercharge streaming fraud,” he said. “And that fraud is not just stealing from songwriters and artists, but also can be used for a more nefarious purpose. There is growing concern by the U.S. government that it is being used to launder money for organized crime and even to finance terrorism. Streaming fraud is a national security issue.”

For further coverage of the NMPA annual meeting, see Billboard’s recap of financials and awards here .

_Originally reported by [Billboard](https://www.billboard.com/pro/nmpa-ai-licensing-deals-udio-klay/)._