Musical AI has raised $4.5 million in funding to expand its attribution and rights management technology, as debates over copyright, licensing and the use of creative works in generative artificial intelligence continue to intensify.
The funding round was led by Heavybit, with participation from BDC and Build Ventures, the company said. Musical AI said the capital would be used to grow its team, further develop its attribution technology and support new commercial agreements with AI developers and content owners.
Musical AI develops technology designed to identify and attribute the source material used in generative AI outputs. The company said its system can determine which inputs contributed to an output and calculate how much of the result is attributable to each source, enabling licensing and payments to rights holders.
CEO and co-founder Sean Power said the company aimed to challenge the view that attribution and licensing are incompatible with large-scale AI systems.
“Some claim attribution, licensing and AI are incompatible, or that only the largest players in the business can deploy it due to the cost and complexity,” Power said. “We have proved them wrong. We have made attribution simple and turnkey.”
Questions around training data, copyright and compensation have become a central issue for generative AI companies, particularly in music, media and entertainment, where rights holders have raised concerns over unauthorised use of their work. Several technology firms and content owners are exploring licensing frameworks as regulators and courts scrutinise AI training practices.
Jesse Robbins, general partner at Heavybit, said Musical AI’s technology could become core infrastructure for media-focused AI products.
“Musical AI’s attribution technology is essential infrastructure that will enable and accelerate every media-focused AI product,” Robbins said, adding that it offers AI companies a way to license and use content while ensuring creators are credited and paid.
Musical AI said its platform is designed to serve both data providers and AI companies. Rights holders can monitor how their works are used, withdraw content or end licences, while AI developers can access licensed data and generate reports to track usage and compensate rights holders on an ongoing basis.
The company said it has secured partnerships with audio and music rights holders including Pro Sound Effects, SourceAudio and Symphonic Distribution. It said its technology has already been used by AI developers to train models on licensed datasets.
AI company SoundBreak, formerly known as SESHY, has used Musical AI’s platform to train its models, according to the company. SoundBreak chief executive Kevin Griffin said the ability to use licensed data with attribution was central to its business.
Musical AI said the funding would support broader adoption of its attribution model as generative AI tools become more widely used across music and other creative industries. The company said it aims to demonstrate that licensing and attribution can scale alongside AI innovation rather than restrict it.
