Photo Credit: Radission US

At its 2026 Annual Meeting, NMPA announces industry-wide publishing deals with two AI music companies, Udio and Klay Media.

During its Annual Meeting at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) announced two industry-wide AI music deals with Udio and Klay Media. The organization said that deals negotiated and settled by NMPA in the past fiscal year, including those AI deals, have led to the distribution of approximately $110 million to its members.

According to NMPA President and CEO David Israelite, the Udio deal is not only the first industry-wide licensing deal with a major AI company, but the first that will value songs and sound recordings equally when it comes to AI training.

Meanwhile, the Klay deal is unique in that it is one of the few companies to secure licensing prior to launching its platform. Klay’s Large Music Model will be trained entirely on licensed music, and the deal with NMPA will launch later this summer.

On the other side of the AI coin, Israelite warned against the growing threats of streaming fraud that have been exponentially amplified by AI. To combat these threats and address other critical AI-related issues, Israelite announced an AI Songs Summit that will take place in Nashville this fall. The Summit will bring together publishers, PROs, and songwriter groups to create industry alignment.

“The challenges posed by AI are massive and evolving,” said Israelite. “However, we are taking a holistic approach to confronting them. […] Great music will never be mass-produced by machines. We are here to fight for what makes art meaningful—authentic human inspiration.”

Israelite also sat down for a keynote conversation with Meta President and Vice Chair Dina Powell McCormick to discuss the crucial role technology plays in the music industry today. When asked by Israelite what advice she would give for dealing with the challenges of AI music, she said, “Become AI literate.”

“But the most important asset will actually be creativity,” she added. “Because we’re going to have a lot of machines doing a lot of things, and so the rare, treasured assets like the people in this room will ultimately make you stand out.”