MusicGen
Meta · Audio & music · 3.3B
MusicGen generates music from a text prompt, and optionally follows a reference melody, using a single-stage transformer over an audio tokenizer. It comes in three sizes, so the smaller variants are laptop-friendly and the 3.3B large needs more memory, though Meta does not publish VRAM figures. It runs through Meta's Audiocraft repo or Hugging Face transformers. The decisive fact for anyone building on it is the licence: while the Audiocraft code is MIT, the released model weights are CC-BY-NC 4.0, meaning non-commercial use only. That rules it out for commercial projects, where an Apache-licensed alternative like ACE-Step is the option to consider instead.
Strengths
- Text-to-music with an optional melody-guided variant
- Several sizes, so smaller ones run on modest hardware
- A well-known, well-supported model with broad tooling
Weaknesses
- The weights are CC-BY-NC 4.0: non-commercial use only
- No official VRAM figures published
- Music generation quality trails newer dedicated models
Hardware requirements
| Quantisation | Approx. VRAM | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Native (large, 3.3B) | ~8GB | Approximate; no official figure. The smaller 300M and 1.5B variants need far less |
What you'd need to run this
Roughly what a machine to run this would need, at up to three levels of quality. Memory is the deciding factor.
Minimum to run it
Native (large, 3.3B) · ~8GB needed
One 12GB GPU
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GBor a Mac or mini-PC with unified memory, if you prefer no discrete GPU, Mac mini M5 Pro .
At least 32GB of system RAM alongside the card.
around £700–£1,100
What else 12GB runs →Licence
CC-BY-NC 4.0 (weights)
MusicGen: common questions
- What hardware do I need to run MusicGen?
- At its most compressed (Native (large, 3.3B)) it needs roughly 8GB of VRAM, and about 8GB for good quality. VRAM figures are approximate and depend on context length and settings.
- Is MusicGen free for commercial use?
- No. MusicGen is licensed for non-commercial use only. The model weights are released under CC-BY-NC 4.0, which permits non-commercial use only.
- Can I run MusicGen on Apple Silicon?
- It can run on Apple Silicon through general runtimes, but it is not specifically optimised for it.
Availability
Recommended for
- Non-commercial music generation and experimentation
- Melody-guided generation from a reference tune
- Research and personal projects
Related models
Related guides
Glossary
Catalogue entry last verified 18 August 2026. Specifications change; verify anything you are about to spend money on.