How to Make Music With AI: Step-by-Step With Soundraw, Suno and ElevenLabs (2026)

This guide takes you all the way to a track you can publish, depending on what you need: instrumental background music for a video or podcast with Soundraw, a full song with lyrics and vocals with Suno, or a sung or instrumental track with ElevenLabs. Each method takes five or six steps. A free account is enough to generate and listen; to download and publish legally you need a subscription: Soundraw Creator at $12.99 a month, Suno Pro at $10 a month or ElevenLabs Starter at $6 a month plus tax (Soundraw pricing, Suno pricing, ElevenLabs pricing, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

The steps follow each company’s help center, pricing page and terms of service, all checked on Sept. 25, 2026. Since the February 2025 version of this guide, Suno has replaced all its models with the v6 family and capped downloads, Udio has switched off downloads, and ElevenLabs has moved into music. Boomy, whose current offer couldn’t be confirmed on its website, has been dropped.

Disclosure: Soundraw and ElevenLabs are affiliate partners of Génie Artificiel. Links followed by the word “commission” earn Génie Artificiel a commission if you subscribe, at no extra cost to you. Génie Artificiel earns nothing from Suno.

How to Make Music With AI: Which Tool for Which Job?

Sources: Soundraw pricing, Suno pricing, ElevenLabs pricing and music terms, checked Sept. 25, 2026. US prices; Soundraw and Suno show different prices in other regions.

What about Udio? After its deal with Universal Music Group, announced Oct. 29, 2025, Udio disabled audio, video and stem downloads, and its help center still says so as of Sept. 25, 2026. You can’t use it for a video or any commercial project. Other generators and what their plans let you publish are compared in Suno alternatives.

For Soundraw’s full pricing, license details and how it stacks up against Suno and Udio, see our Soundraw guide.

AI Background Music Generator for Videos: Soundraw Step by Step

Soundraw has no free-text prompt: you combine filters, then reshape the track block by block. That’s what lets you fit the music to the exact length of an edit.

Step 1: Sign Up and Pick the Right Plan

Create an account on Soundraw commission. A free account lets you generate, edit and favorite tracks, but not download them (free vs. paid help article, checked Sept. 25, 2026). Build your track for free and subscribe when you’re ready to download.

US prices from the pricing page, checked Sept. 25, 2026. Soundraw shows them as discounts off a crossed-out list price, with no end date. These plans are for individuals and companies with fewer than 10 employees. For a YouTube video, a podcast or an ad, Creator is enough.

Step 2: Set the Length and Tempo

On the generator page, start with the length (“Choose the length,” 3:00 by default): enter the length of your edit, up to 5 minutes. Then check one or more tempos: Slow, Normal or Fast.

Step 3: Pick a Genre, Mood or Theme

Soundraw gives you three ways in: genre (“Select the Genre”), mood (“Select the Mood”) and use-case theme (“Select the Theme”). It returns a list of tracks with key, tempo and length; generate again for more. Some starting combinations, using filters listed on the page as of Sept. 25, 2026:

To hear the music against your footage before paying, drop your video into the “Video Preview” window.

Step 4: Fit the Track to Your Edit

Open the track you picked. It’s split into blocks a few bars long. According to the editing guide (checked Sept. 25, 2026):

1. Hover over a block and click the trash icon to delete it, or the ”+” between two blocks to add one.
2. Set each block’s energy with its bar (Quiet, Mid, Intense, Extreme): quiet under an interview, intense on a key moment.
3. Adjust the length (Length), tempo (BPM), key (Key, from the options offered) and volume.

Step 5: Fine-Tune in the Mixer

Click Mixer to switch each instrument group (Melody, Backing, Bass, Drums) and the transitions (Fill) on or off, block by block. Right-click the edge of a block to add a fade-in or fade-out. A handy trick under a voiceover: mute the melody during spoken parts and keep the bass and drums.

Step 6: Download and Keep Proof of Your License

Download the track: MP3 on Creator; MP3, WAV and WAV stems on Artist Pro and Unlimited. There’s no MIDI export (formats help article, checked Sept. 25, 2026). For anything longer than 5 minutes, the help center suggests removing the outro and looping the track in your video editor.

Tracks downloaded while you’re subscribed stay licensed for life, even after you cancel, except meditation, lo-fi or relaxation content published unmodified (pricing page, checked Sept. 25, 2026). Note the track title and download date: you’ll need them if a YouTube claim shows up (see below).

How to Make a Song With Lyrics in Suno

Suno generates a complete song, instruments and vocals included, from a description and, if you like, your own lyrics. Since Sept. 9, 2026, it runs on three models: v6-mini for everyone, and v6 and v6-wild (less predictable) for Pro and Premier subscribers; all older models were retired (v6 FAQ, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

Step 1: Subscribe Before You Generate the Final Version

This is the part that matters most. With Suno, your rights depend on your plan when the song is created, not when you download it:

• Free: 50 credits a day, no commercial rights. Suno owns the songs and you can only use them personally. Accounts created before Sept. 3, 2026 also get 7 lifetime trial downloads, for personal use only (trial downloads help article, checked Sept. 25, 2026).
• Subscribing later doesn’t make rights retroactive: a song made on the free plan stays non-commercial (Suno help, checked Sept. 25, 2026).
• Pro or Premier: you’re considered the owner of songs made while subscribed, and you keep commercial rights after canceling (ownership help article, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

US prices from the pricing page, checked Sept. 25, 2026. Each generation produces two versions and costs 10 credits (v6 FAQ). Premier adds Suno Studio (a multitrack editor with MIDI export) and advanced stem separation.

The budget approach: explore on the free plan, subscribe for the month you produce the version you’ll publish, and regenerate it on Pro.

Step 2: Start With an Idea in Simple Mode

Open Create (suno.com/create). In Simple mode, describe the song in a sentence or two: genre, mood, topic, vocal type. Click Create: Suno returns two versions. Copy-ready example:

A bright indie pop song about a summer road trip along the coast, acoustic guitar and piano, catchy chorus, soft female vocals

For a podcast jingle, be just as specific about length and the words to be sung. Suno doesn’t guarantee an exact duration, so plan to trim it in your editor.

Short, energetic jingle for a tech podcast, pop-rock, male vocals, a single sung line: "Talk tech, talk tomorrow"

Step 3: Write the Style and Lyrics in Advanced Mode

Advanced mode (called Custom in older help pages) splits the prompt into two fields: style and lyrics (Suno guide and lyrics help article, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

In the style field, list genre, instruments, tempo, mood and vocal type:

indie pop, acoustic guitar, warm piano, light drums, upbeat, 110 bpm, female vocals, catchy chorus

In the lyrics field, mark the structure in square brackets: Suno reads [Verse], [Chorus] or [Bridge] as directions, not as words to sing. Here’s a full structure with original lyrics to swap for your own:

[Intro]

[Verse]
Windows down and the map's in the back
Half a tank and a sun-bleached track
Every mile marker counting us free
Nothing out here but the road and the sea

[Chorus]
We're gone, we're gone, don't look behind
Salt in the air and the summer on our side
We're gone, we're gone, the city can wait
Turn up the radio, we're running late

[Verse]
Gas station coffee and a borrowed song
Singing the words that we always get wrong
Phone's out of signal, and that's alright
We'll find the motel sometime tonight

[Chorus]
We're gone, we're gone, don't look behind
Salt in the air and the summer on our side
We're gone, we're gone, the city can wait
Turn up the radio, we're running late

[Bridge]
What if tomorrow never had a schedule

[Chorus]
We're gone, we're gone, don't look behind

[Outro]

For music without vocals, turn on Instrumental and leave the lyrics empty. If you write the lyrics yourself, they stay yours on any plan, according to Suno.

Step 4: Adjust the Advanced Settings

Below the two fields, the advanced options let you exclude styles (handy for ruling out “autotune” or “rap,” for example), choose the vocal gender and set two sliders: Weirdness (how adventurous the result is) and Style Influence (how closely it follows your style description). The model picker switches between v6 and v6-wild. For songs longer than two minutes, Suno recommends Max Mode, which costs more credits (v6 FAQ, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

Step 5: Refine the Best Version

Listen to both versions and keep the better one. To fix things:

• Reuse Prompt (in the song’s ”…” menu) reloads the style, lyrics and title so you can generate a variation;
• Extend replaces the ending from the point you choose (Suno help, checked Sept. 25, 2026);
• with v6 you can also rewrite a section described in plain language, or change a single word of the lyrics without regenerating everything (v6 FAQ).

Step 6: Download

Download from the song’s page. Every download counts against your monthly allowance (20 on Pro, 60 on Premier), including songs made before Sept. 3, 2026, and extra downloads can be purchased (Suno announcement, checked Sept. 25, 2026). Only download final versions. The terms of service ban getting a song any other way (recording or stream ripping) and removing the watermark or metadata Suno adds (terms of service, revised Aug. 10, 2026).

How to Make Music With ElevenLabs

If you already use ElevenLabs for voiceovers, its music generator saves you a second subscription. Music v2.5, the default model since Sept. 11, 2026, makes tracks from 3 seconds to 5 minutes long, with or without lyrics, in several languages (music docs, checked Sept. 25, 2026). Pricing and other features are covered in our ElevenLabs guide.

Step 1: Choose a Plan Based on Where the Music Will Go

Create an account on ElevenLabs commission. Every feature draws on the same credit balance, and music costs 900 credits per minute (pricing, checked Sept. 25, 2026). Your rights depend on your plan (music terms, last updated May 26, 2026, and publishing rules, checked Sept. 25, 2026):

Under those terms, Free through Pro are for individual use only; organizations need Scale (fewer than 10 employees) or Business (fewer than 50). Up to Business, film, TV, radio and commercial games released on more than one platform are excluded and require an Enterprise license. If you cancel, you keep the right to use tracks made under your previous plan.

Step 2: Describe the Track

Open Music in the app (elevenlabs.io/app/music). ElevenLabs stresses a descriptive, detailed prompt (Music guide, checked Sept. 25, 2026). Example for a video:

Instrumental lo-fi hip-hop track for a cooking video, soft electric piano, dusty drums, warm bass, 85 BPM, cozy and relaxed mood, gentle fade-out ending

Example for a song:

Upbeat indie pop song about a summer road trip, acoustic guitar and piano, female vocals, catchy chorus, verse-chorus-bridge structure

You can also add a short audio reference (about 30 seconds) to steer the sound.

Step 3: Set the Number of Versions and the Length

Choose how many variants to generate and the length: a fixed value (30s, 1m…) or “Auto.” For background music, set it to the length of your edit.

Step 4: Edit Section by Section

The generated track is laid out in sections. Click inside a section’s text to change its lyrics or instructions, add a part with + Add Section, or change the style of a single section (“Edit styles of this section”). When the “Song composition has changed” notice appears, click Generate: only your changes are regenerated.

Step 5: Download

Click Download: MP3 at 44.1 kHz (128 to 192 kbps), with WAV depending on your plan (music docs, checked Sept. 25, 2026). Share creates a listening link with a visualizer.

Exporting and Publishing: YouTube, Spotify and Content ID

Sources: Soundraw license, Suno distribution help article, ElevenLabs music terms, checked Sept. 25, 2026.

Soundraw on YouTube. You can monetize, but you can’t register the music with Content ID (Content ID help article, checked Sept. 25, 2026). If an automated claim shows up anyway, Soundraw’s procedure is to dispute it in YouTube Studio, citing your license; ad revenue may be held while the dispute is reviewed.

Soundraw on Spotify. Only Artist plans allow it, and only after you’ve modified the track (vocals, a remix, an instrument you play): the result must sound clearly different from the downloaded track (license page, checked Sept. 25, 2026).

Suno on Spotify. A song made on Pro or Premier can go out through the distributor of your choice. Suno warns against monetizing a song you don’t fully own the rights to, such as one using someone else’s lyrics (Suno help, checked Sept. 25, 2026). Its terms also state that rights holders may collect revenue from distribution on third-party platforms, and that each platform sets its own rules.

Who owns the music? On Suno, Pro and Premier subscribers receive Suno’s rights in their songs, with no guarantee that any copyright exists in generated output (terms of service). Suno’s copyright help article (checked Sept. 25, 2026) notes that in the US, music made 100% with AI doesn’t qualify for copyright protection, while lyrics you wrote yourself do, which is a good reason to write your own. On Soundraw, you get a non-exclusive license: Soundraw keeps the rights to the recording, and you own whatever you add.

Disclosing AI. YouTube lists AI-generated music among the examples of realistic content to disclose with the “AI use” setting in YouTube Studio, and says disclosure doesn’t limit a video’s audience or its eligibility to earn money (YouTube Help, checked Sept. 25, 2026). Spotify removes tracks that impersonate another artist’s voice without permission and filters music spam (Spotify announcement, Sept. 25, 2025).

Common Mistakes

• Making the final version on Suno’s free plan and subscribing to publish it: rights aren’t retroactive. Regenerate it on Pro.
• Burning Suno downloads on drafts: 20 a month on Pro, older songs included.
• Registering a Soundraw track with Content ID, directly or through a distributor’s option: the license forbids it.
• Releasing a raw Soundraw track on Spotify, or releasing on the Creator plan: you need an Artist plan and a modified track.
• Picking ElevenLabs Starter to release a single: streaming rights start at Creator.
• Naming an artist or mimicking their voice in your prompt: Spotify removes unauthorized voice impersonations, and a song built on someone else’s lyrics can’t be monetized.
• Recording the audio instead of downloading it: Suno prohibits it, and a file obtained that way carries no commercial rights.
• Counting on Udio for a video: downloads are disabled.

FAQ

Can I Make Music With AI for Free?

Yes, to create and listen: Suno gives you 50 credits a day, and Soundraw and ElevenLabs have free accounts. No, to publish: Suno and ElevenLabs limit free use to personal projects, and Soundraw allows no downloads without a subscription (checked Sept. 25, 2026). One exception, noted Oct. 9, 2026: ElevenLabs’ separate ElevenMusic app allows free commercial use with a credit; all eight free tiers are compared in free AI music generators.

Can I Use AI Music on a Monetized YouTube Channel?

Yes, on a paid plan: any plan on Soundraw, Pro or Premier on Suno (for songs made while subscribed), Starter or above on ElevenLabs. If a Soundraw track gets a Content ID claim, dispute it in YouTube Studio with your license.

Can I Put a Suno Song on Spotify?

Yes, if it was made on Pro or Premier and downloaded through Suno. Go through a distributor, check its rules on AI-generated music, and don’t use lyrics or voices that belong to someone else.

Which AI Is Best for Copyright-Safe Background Music?

Soundraw: adjustable length and energy, unlimited downloads from $12.99 a month, and a license built for video. According to Soundraw, its model is trained on music by its own producers. For the rest of an audio workflow, see our guide to automating a podcast.

Can Soundraw Sing?

No. Soundraw only makes instrumentals. For vocals, use Suno or ElevenLabs, or record your own vocals over a Soundraw track exported as stems (Artist Pro and Unlimited plans).