In a bid to shift the narrative from replacement to collaboration, ElevenLabs launches the first major AI-generated album with the blessing of EGOT legends.
- Legends Embrace Tech: ElevenLabs has released “The Eleven Album,” the first major AI-generated record created with full permission from icons like Liza Minnelli and Art Garfunkel.
- Monetization Over Imitation: The company is combating anti-AI sentiment by offering a marketplace where artists—and estates of icons like Judy Garland—can license and monetize their distinct voices.
- The Battle for Control: While Minnelli views AI as a tool for expression, the project arrives amidst industry-wide controversy, ranging from unauthorized voice cloning scandals to listeners demanding clearer labeling on Spotify.
The intersection of artificial intelligence and the music industry reached a pivotal milestone this Wednesday with the release of “The Eleven Album” on Spotify. Produced by the London-based AI voice-cloning company ElevenLabs, the project is being touted as the first major AI-generated album made with explicit permission from the human artists involved.
The album features 13 artists, including Art Garfunkel (of Simon & Garfunkel fame) and singer-pianist Michael Feinstein. However, the headline act is undoubtedly Liza Minnelli. An EGOT winner (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony), Minnelli represents the pinnacle of traditional show business, making her collaboration with cutting-edge AI particularly significant.
For Minnelli, the collaboration isn’t about replacing the human element, but enhancing it. “I’ve always believed that music is about connection and emotional truth,” Minnelli stated. “What interested me here was the idea of using my voice and new tools in service of expression, not instead of it. This project respects the artist’s voice, the artist’s choices, and the artist’s ownership.”
Monetization and Licensing
ElevenLabs, which launched in 2023, is aggressively courting talent to combat the prevailing narrative that AI is a tool for theft. By offering a platform where artists can monetize their likenesses through licensing deals, they hope to create a sustainable economic model for AI creative work.
The company recently introduced a marketplace where public figures can license their AI-cloned voices. This ensures that companies must request explicit approval to use these voices in media campaigns. This initiative has already attracted high-profile names:
- Living Legends: Actor Michael Caine has joined the marketplace.
- Hollywood Estates: ElevenLabs has partnered with the estates of icons like Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds, and Laurence Olivier for its text narration app.
Sophia Noel, a member of the company’s partnerships team, emphasized the ethical foundation of their music model. She noted that the system is “fully trained on licensed music,” assuring that “we didn’t steal or take any music in order to create this system.” She further clarified that creators using the platform retain full ownership of the resulting tracks.
The Broader War Over Likeness
“The Eleven Album” arrives during a tumultuous period for intellectual property rights in Hollywood. Artists across film, TV, and video games are scrambling to protect their likenesses from unauthorized use.
- Legal Action: Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey filed to trademark himself this month to prevent AI misuse. This follows Scarlett Johansson’s public clash with OpenAI in 2024, where she slammed the company for a chatbot voice she felt was “eerily similar” to hers.
- Music Disputes: The music industry has seen high-profile conflicts, such as the estate of Tupac Shakur forcing rapper Drake to remove a diss track that utilized an AI-generated version of Shakur’s voice.
- Corporate Deals: Despite the backlash, major entities are moving forward. Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group have signed licensing deals with AI studios like Stability AI, Udio, and Klay, settling previous copyright infringement lawsuits to pave a way forward.
The Listener Experience and Safety Safeguards
As AI music becomes more prevalent, it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from human-made tracks. Viral successes like the indie band The Velvet Sundown amassed over a million plays on Spotify before admitting their tracks were AI-generated. This has led to frustration among listeners; a poll of 6,300 users last year revealed a strong demand for clear labeling and the option to filter out AI songs entirely. Spotify has since announced plans to implement stricter disclosures and impersonation rules.
Safety remains a primary concern. A Consumer Reports investigation previously found that voice-cloning safeguards were easily bypassable. In response, ElevenLabs’ Dustin Blank clarified that their professional voice-cloning features now require strict identity verification, including reading a text prompt within a specific timeframe.
Furthermore, Sophia Noel added that their AI-cloned voices now contain a “sonic fingerprint.” This unique sound frequency acts as a digital watermark, allowing the company to definitively identify audio generated by their platform.
Tool or Threat?
While the debate rages on, the participants of “The Eleven Album” view the technology as an evolution of art rather than its destruction. Michael Feinstein, who collaborated on the album, pushed back against the fear surrounding the technology.
“People who look at AI as a threat are not seeing the potential of what it can do with art direction and guidance,” Feinstein said. “AI may offer infinite options. Creators have to make the final choices.”