Artificial intelligence was the main conversation at the National Music Publishers Association’s annual meeting in New York on Wednesday, with the trade organization announcing during the event that it had signed a licensing agreement with AI music generation platform Udio, a notable move with NMPA President David Israelite noting the deal as the first music industry-wide licensing agreement with an AI-powered music company.
NMPA also announced an agreement with AI-powered music startup Klay, which describes itself as a fan-powered platform that allows listeners to use AI to play the music they listen to. Clay had previously announced deals with the Big Three record labels and music publishers.
“They came to the table to bring creators as business partners, as it should be,” Israelit said of Audio and Clay to the audience on Wednesday. Member publishers can review the agreement with Udio and decide if they want to join next week, Israelite said.
Udio’s NMPA deal comes months after the AI Music startup settled lawsuits with UMG and WMG last fall. Sony Music Group is still in litigation with Udio.
As Israelite announced the deals, he told the audience that the NMPA would continue to file lawsuits against “bad actor” AI companies and stressed his concern about AI’s impact on streaming fraud, calling on industry stakeholders like streaming services to take action. He announced an upcoming “AI Song Summit” in Nashville scheduled for next September for the publishing industry to meet and agree on AI policy.
Reflecting the sensitivity that still lies in the AI music conversation, a keynote between President Israel, Meta, and Vice President Dina Powell McCormick elicited some groans as the discussion turned toward AI and gender equality in the workplace. Recalling a new class of interns at Meta this year, McCormick said she noticed that men were more willing to use AI in their projects than women, and she encouraged female interns to use AI as well to keep up. When Israelite pointed out diversity issues in the music industry — women have long been underrepresented as songwriters, producers and corporate executives — McCormick suggested that women in music should be using AI, too.
Moving away from the AI discussions, as it did last year, NMPA Danielle Aguirre touched on the impact of Spotify and Amazon Music’s controversial bundling strategy, whereby bundling music with audiobook offerings allows streamers to pay songwriters less. So far, the publishing industry has lost nearly $500 million because of this strategy, Aguirre said. She added that revenues rose this year to $7.3 billion.
Furthermore, the NMPA honored several hitmakers during its meeting, including most notable P!Nk, who performed acoustic performances of her hits “Who Knew,” “What About Us,” and “Perfect.”
“Experiencing someone else’s words as if they were your own, to me, is a connection,” Pink told the audience before the performance as she reflected on her songwriting career. When I was a rowdy teenager from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, I didn’t write songs to win awards. I wrote songs because I had feelings. A truly alarming number of emotions… I wrote these down. I’ve been setting it to music and then screaming it into the microphone for the past 25 years.
Rising country act carter faith, who Cherry Valley It was a THR Editor’s Choice Best Albums of 2025 She kicked off the event by performing her song “Six String.”
Also honored Wednesday was producer and songwriter Julian Boneta, whose global hits include Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso.” Amber Mark performed “Lose Control” in his honor.
Grammys CEO Harvey Mason Jr. Also up for an Industry Legacy Award, he joined Israelite for a fireside chat, while Jordin Sparks surprised Mason afterward with a performance of “No Air,” he wrote.
