The Halifax startup's platform tracks exactly which songs train AI models, then calculates royalties so rightsholders actually get paid for their contributions.
Key Highlights

Musical AI closed a $4.5M funding round led by Heavybit with support from BDC and Build Ventures to expand its AI attribution platform
The company’s technology tracks which source inputs contribute to generative AI outputs, enabling accurate royalty payments to rightsholders
Partnerships with Pro Sound Effects, SourceAudio, and Symphonic Distribution already power licensed AI training for companies like SoundBreak AI
Musical AI has secured $4.5M in funding to grow its team and expand attribution technology that solves one of AI music’s biggest problems: paying creators fairly. Heavybit, a leading enterprise infrastructure investor, led the round. The Halifax-based company’s platform already tracks what percentage of AI-generated audio comes from specific licensed sources. SoundBreak AI, co-founded by Better Than Ezra frontman Kevin Griffin, uses Musical AI to ensure its models train only on properly attributed works.

Musical AI built a two-sided platform connecting data providers with AI companies. Rightsholders monitor and control usage of their works. AI companies access licensed data and receive reports for ongoing royalty payments. “”We have made attribution simple and turnkey,”” said Sean Power, CEO and co-founder of Musical AI. The Pro Sound Effects partnership announced in May 2025 demonstrates this model in action.

As WIPO notes on AI royalties, protecting artists whose work trains AI models remains an urgent challenge. Musical AI joins AIxchange’s attribution approach in building infrastructure for ethical AI music creation. Their Beatoven partnership in December 2024 created the first fully-licensed AI song generator trained on 3M+ songs. For you as a creator, these developments signal a future where your catalog earns from AI training rather than being exploited by it.”