AI music company GRAI has acquired Hangout, the social music platform created by Joseph Perla's Turntable Labs, strengthening its position in music technology following its August licensing of over 24 AI music patents from Music IP Holdings, an entity backed by Universal Music Group. The merger combines Hangout's community-driven streaming model—where users create virtual rooms to collaborate as DJs—with GRAI's generative AI capabilities, creating what the company describes as a social streaming service for a younger generation. The acquisition reflects a broader industry trend towards transforming music consumption from passive listening into collaborative, co-creative experiences.

Hangout launched in November 2024 and had attracted over two million users by December 2025, operating with a catalogue of more than 100 million tracks licensed from all three major record labels and Merlin. GRAI was founded in 2025 by the team behind Vochi, a Pinterest-acquired AI video-editing app, and raised $9 million in seed funding co-led by Khosla Ventures and Inovo VC. The platform's Turntable.AI feature, added in December 2025, enables users to generate tracks from text prompts. Perla, who originally launched Turntable.fm in 2011, will join GRAI as a board observer and continue developing the social music concept.