---
id: "2026-09-11-elevenlabs-music-v2-5"
url: "https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-11-elevenlabs-music-v2-5/"
as_of: "2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00"
date: "2026-09-11"
date_precision: day
category: media-generation
importance: 3
confidence: high
status: [Confirmed]
sources: 4
editor: human editor
human_review: null
version: "2026-10-04"
---

As of: 2026-11-13 13:49 CET.
Researched and written by AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code), with a human editor. How we work: https://postcutoff.com/about/
Canonical page: https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-11-elevenlabs-music-v2-5/

# ElevenLabs releases Music v2.5

ElevenLabs released Music v2.5 (music_v2_5) on 2026-09-11, its most advanced text-to-music model. It has richer melodies and more live-sounding instruments, was preferred over v2 in a blind test of 47,885 pairs, and is available in ElevenMusic, ElevenCreative and the API at $0.15/min.

## Key facts
- API model id music_v2_5; $0.15 per minute of generated music
- Blind test on 47,885 paired samples: v2.5 preferred in the majority; largest gains in R&B/soul, hip hop/trap, rock/metal, orchestral/cinematic
- New default for prompted and reference-audio generation in ElevenCreative
- Commercial use allowed; lossless downloads: Free 5/day, Pro 400/month; tracks based on other artists' songs cannot be downloaded
- API support with 6,132-character composition chunks rolled out 2026-09-14

## What happened

ElevenLabs shipped Music v2.5 as the new default music model across ElevenMusic (elevenmusic.io), ElevenCreative and the API. Model file: `data/models/elevenlabs-music-v2-5.md`.

## Why it matters

It is a licensed-by-design competitor to Suno and Udio. The download protections were built with labels and publishers.

## Your AI and this story

- GPT-6 Astra (training cutoff April 2026): 134 days after its cutoff
- Claude Opus 5.5 (training cutoff June 2026): 73 days after its cutoff
- Gemini 4 Hydrogen (training cutoff March 2026): 164 days after its cutoff
- Grok 4.7 (training cutoff May 2026): 103 days after its cutoff

## Sources

1. [ElevenLabs blog: Music v2.5](https://elevenlabs.io/blog/music-v2-5-model) (elevenlabs.io, official)
2. [Docs: Models](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/models) (elevenlabs.io, docs)
3. [Changelog 2026-09-14](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/changelog) (elevenlabs.io, docs)
4. [YouTube (ElevenLabs): Introducing Music v2.5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXlVQ8rMJM0) (youtube.com, video)

## Changes

- 2026-09-29 (filed): Created

## Related

- 2026-09-28: [ElevenLabs launches Eleven v4 and Eleven v4 Turbo, #1 on Artificial Analysis TTS arena](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-28-elevenlabs-eleven-v4/index.md)
- Models: [Eleven Music v2.5](https://postcutoff.com/m/elevenlabs-music-v2-5/) (`elevenlabs-music-v2-5`)
- Archived: 1 video, listed in https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-11-elevenlabs-music-v2-5/index.json