The company also announced that Merlin, a licensing partner for independent labels and distributors, has now joined Universal Music Group (UMG) on the new AI music effort. Spotify has positioned its AI music product as being significantly different from the more controversial AI music startups that have been used to create fully artificial songs. Instead, Spotify co-CEO Gustav Söderström told investors on Tuesday’s call that the company’s AI music product will be about “real artists, not fake artists.” The company told investors that a research preview of the fan remix and covers product would initially be made available to a subset of users. The new tool will launch as a paid add-on, creating an additional revenue stream for artists, Spotify previously said.