ElevenLabs built Music v2 to edit sections, not whole songs

The system

ElevenLabs introduced Music v2 on 26 May 2026 as the model behind three products: ElevenMusic for musicians, ElevenAPI for developers embedding generation elsewhere, and ElevenCreative for brands licensing music at scale. The company's launch post describes it as a text-to-music system that can move "from opera to heavy metal and back" within one track while sustaining fast rap and dense lyrical delivery. ElevenLabs' music documentation, retrieved 16 September 2026, frames Music v2 as the successor to Music v1 and the predecessor to Music v2.5.

What the documents establish

The documentation states Music v2 generates a song section by section — intro, verse, chorus and beyond — rather than a single short clip, and that its inpainting lets a user select one section and regenerate it without touching the rest. The launch post adds mid-track genre transitions and embedded sound effects as new over Music v1. The docs give concrete limits: tracks run from 3 seconds to 5 minutes, delivered as MP3 (44.1kHz, 128–192kbps) or WAV. A separate Audio Reference feature lets a user upload roughly 30 seconds of audio to steer style; every upload "is screened for copyright compliance," and the feature is not designed for genre transformation. ElevenLabs' pricing page, also retrieved 16 September 2026, lists music generation at 900 credits per minute, with commercial use bundled from the Creator tier upward — separate from the company's dedicated Music Marketplace product.

Craft and rights

Section-level inpainting keeps arrangement choices with the editor: a producer can hold a chorus fixed while iterating on a bridge, a narrower workflow than regenerating a whole track. The rights picture is less settled. ElevenLabs' post states the model was "built in partnership with artists, labels, and publishers, and cleared for commercial use" — the company's own claim about its licensing, not a licence text reproduced in the post. The documentation directs users to a separate music terms page for what a plan actually permits, so the launch material describes capability, not the commercial scope a musician would need before release.

Outcomes and open questions

The documentation already shows Music v2 being superseded in parts of the product by Music v2.5 within months, and states Music v1 will be deprecated with "at least a few months" notice once set. The post also references "recent licensing collaborations with Believe" without describing scope. Watch for how quickly versions turn over relative to any catalogue built on one, and for published detail on the Believe collaboration.

• What does ElevenLabs' music terms page permit for the specific plan a project is paying for?
• Does a track generated under Music v2 remain usable once the model is deprecated?
• What did the named label and publisher partnerships contribute, beyond the announcement?

The architecture claims are ElevenLabs describing its own product; the clearance claim is the same company describing its own licensing position, a different statement from an independently verified rights clearance.