ElevenLabs launches a new "Iconic Marketplace" for licensing AI generated celebrity voices
ElevenLabs has launched the new "Iconic Marketplace", a new hub that lets companies license AI generated voices of well known figures for ads and branded content. It uses a consent based, performer first model that connects businesses with the rights holders of each voice, while ElevenLabs handles licensing and synthesis.
The marketplace is limited to verified celebrities and IP owners, covering both living and historical figures whose voices were created through modern cloning techniques or reconstructed from archival recordings. The launch lineup includes 28 voices such as Liza Minnelli, Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, and Alan Turing, and it also introduces Sir Michael Caine as one of the first major living celebrities joining the project, with his voice available both in the marketplace and the ElevenReader app.
Caine publicly endorsed the project as a way to preserve and share voices while supporting new creators. ElevenLabs also noted that actor Matthew McConaughey has been both an investor and a user of the platform, using its technology to produce a Spanish language audio version of his newsletter, and highlighted partnerships with agencies like CMG Worldwide to bring in additional estates and ensure that all collaborations follow a consent driven and transparent licensing model.
- Text to Speech Service
- Freemium • Proprietary
Related news
External links
- Announcing Partnership with Sir Michael Caine to Newly Launched Iconic MarketplaceElevenLabs • Official source
- Matthew McConaughey, Michael Caine Ink ElevenLabs AI Voice DealsVariety
- ElevenLabs opens a marketplace for iconic AI voicesTHE DECODER
- ElevenLabs’ new AI marketplace lets brands use famous voices for adsThe Verge
Comments
This is what lead Hollywood on strike
Sad that this exists because of how it can be used and will be used. And I don't mean that ElevenLabs is the problem, or AI synthesis, it's the people who will use and have been using it unethically.
The silver lining is that people are getting compensated for their IP (or likeness).
Though, there are quite literally thousands (hundreds of millions actually) that are not.
Let's see if trickle-down economics will cause many more people to get paid or allow them to fully opt-out (which is impossible without starting from scratch).
Wouldn't you argue that any AI voice could be used unethically? The technology required to synthesize a person's voice without their consent is here to stay.
If a person gave up ownership to his rights to his voice in the will for his family or favorite charity, it should be ethical. But I admit that could be problems with further transfer of ownership if family or charity instead of licensing decides to sell the voice rights completely. There should be some laws passed for these problems.
@Mr. Anon I'm guessing that was a rhetorical question. My comment already addressed that in the second sentence. When I said that “this exists”, I was addressing AI replication/synthesis in general; not a specific person.
It's now become a whole lot easier for scammers to successfully drain many people's grandparents' bank accounts. Heck, they can scam anyone who doesn't do their due diligence as far as verification is concerned; the age doesn't matter.
In fact, Gen Z and later are just as prone as Boomers because they grew up with convenience as their main, and sometimes only, priority. It's easy to catch people when convenience is their god. AI video and voice, plus SIM swapping, and bam! - account drained. Well, in this case, just giving away some money to a scammer.
@BorisF Yeah, celebrity kids could easily just not want anything to with managing rights, leaving it to the lawyers. That could end up being better or worse. But as far as licensing to a platform is concerned, unless the platform is strict with the type of content you can produce with a person's likeness, and by strict I mean it's impossible for someone to break the rules - not just "Don't do this," then things can get out of hand real quick.
Basically, they need to ensure the software doesn't allow it to happen. In this way, whenever content is perceived as unethical/inappropriate, it just doesn't generate anything. Of course, localised training bypasses all rules, and there are companies, most of them, which don't care about ethics or laws.