Music creation platform Splice has acquired Kits AI, a startup specializing in AI-powered vocal production, as reported by Music Business Worldwide. The move doubles down on Splice's strategy to build a suite of generative AI tools that are both powerful and ethically sound, with the entire Kits AI team joining Splice.
- Collecting the pieces: The acquisition is the latest in a series of strategic plays for Splice. It follows the company's purchase of virtual instrument library Spitfire Audio for a reported $50 million last year and a major partnership with Universal Music Group just last month to develop new AI tools for artists.
- An ethical edge: A key component of the purchase is Kits AI's "Fairly Trained" certification, which verifies its models were trained on fully-licensed data. In a field dogged by copyright controversy, this positions Splice as a safe harbor where creators can experiment with AI without legal headaches.
- The great consolidation: The acquisition is another clear signal that the AI music landscape is consolidating, with industry leaders snapping up promising startups to gain an edge. The news comes in the same week that beat marketplace BeatStars bought melody generator Lemonaide AI, underscoring the industry's push for integrated, rights-holder-friendly AI toolkits.
By acquiring a company built on licensed data, Splice is making a firm bet that the future of AI music creation will be won by those who partner with artists, not those who scrape their work without permission. Meanwhile, the push for AI is happening against a backdrop of extreme content saturation, with a new report showing 106,000 new tracks are hitting streaming services daily. Elsewhere, major labels are making their own tech alliances, with Universal Music Group partnering with Nvidia on generative AI models. And in the metaverse, artists are finding new ways to engage, as Bruno Mars recently dropped into a popular Roblox game.