Spotify's AI Remix and Cover Tool Just Got Believe and TuneCore on Board. Here's What It Means If You Make Music in India

On October 20, Spotify announced that Believe and TuneCore have signed up for its upcoming fan remix and cover tool. If you're an independent artist in India, that one matters more than the usual label headline, because a lot of indie and regional music, from Punjabi singles to Bhojpuri and devotional catalogues, moves through distributors and independent rights networks rather than the big three labels.

What the tool actually is

Spotify is building a feature where fans can use generative AI to make covers and remixes of songs that are already on the platform. It isn't meant for creating brand-new songs from scratch. The idea is that a fan takes a track they love and reworks it, and the people who own the original get paid when that remix is streamed.

A few details Spotify has put in writing:

It will be a paid add-on for Spotify Premium subscribers, so it's extra money on top of normal streaming royalties, not a replacement.
Streams of a remix generate royalties for the artists and rights holders behind the original.
Every remix links back to the original track and artist on Spotify.
Participation is voluntary.

What Spotify hasn't announced yet is a launch date or a price for the add-on, or which countries get it first. So don't believe anyone who tells you it's live in India next month.

Who has signed so far

This has been building all year. Universal Music Group came first, in May, as the launch partner. Merlin, the body that licenses a big chunk of the independent label world, signed in August, and Music Business Worldwide reported that the deal gives artists across the 30,000 labels in its network the option to take part. Kobalt, the publisher, followed a week or so later. Believe and TuneCore are the latest.

Sony and Warner hadn't announced deals for this tool when Spotify's co-CEO Gustav Söderström spoke on the August earnings call, and he was blunt about it: "we do not need a deal with all the majors."

How the Believe opt-in works

This part is worth reading slowly. Believe and TuneCore are using a two-step consent process. First, artists choose whether they want to be considered for AI-related programs at all. Only the people who say yes there get shown the Spotify partnership, and then they decide whether to actually join.

That's a sensible design. Nobody's catalogue gets thrown into an AI remix machine by default.

Why this matters for Indian artists

Look at how regional music already spreads. A Haryanvi track blows up, and within a week there are DJ versions, slowed-and-reverb edits, and "remix" uploads on YouTube and Instagram from people who never asked the singer or the label. Bhojpuri has the same pattern, and so does Rajasthani folk. Most of that earns the original artist nothing.

A licensed version of that habit, where the remix credits you and the stream pays you, is a better deal than what's happening now. It also fits where the money is going. Spotify's own India Loud & Clear report says royalties generated by Indian artists grew 29% in 2025, and more than 40% of that came from listeners outside India. Fans abroad remixing a Punjabi or Telugu hit is not a strange idea.

There's a fair worry on the other side too. Some artists, especially in devotional music, won't want their bhajans or aartis reworked by AI at all. That's exactly why the opt-in matters, and why you should know who controls that switch for your catalogue.

What we'd do right now

From where we sit, handling releases for a lot of small labels and regional artists, this is the boring prep that will decide who benefits when the tool opens up:

1. Know who holds your master rights. If a remix earns money, it goes to whoever owns the original recording. If your song went out under a friend's label or a YouTube channel owner's account, sort that out on paper now. 2. Clean up your metadata. The correct artist name, featured artists, composer and lyricist credits, and ISRC on every track. If the remix links back to the original, you want it to point at the right profile. 3. Read every opt-in email properly. When your distributor or label asks about AI programs, don't click yes or no in a hurry. Ask what you're agreeing to and whether you can change your mind later. 4. Decide your own line on AI. A party-song singer and a bhajan singer may want very different answers, and both are fine.

RMX Music isn't part of these Spotify announcements. If the program opens to more distributors, we'll post the details here so our artists and labels can decide for themselves.

If you want your releases, metadata and rights in order before any of this arrives, RMX Music distributes to 95+ platforms, with 3,000+ artists and 2,200+ labels already on board, and you keep 95% of your royalties. A Label account is a one-time ₹4,500 for life. You can sign up here.