AI Music APIs One Generation Later: MiniMax Music-3.0 vs Lyria 3.5 vs Mureka V9.5
9 min read • August 19, 2026
Table of contents
- Introduction
- What changed since July
- The lineup and what a track costs
- How we tested
- Part 1 — Instrumentals
- Part 2 — Vocals, model writes the lyrics
- Part 3 — Vocals, our lyrics and an elaborate style brief
- FAQ
Introduction
MiniMax Music-3.0, Google’s Lyria 3.5 and Mureka V9.5 — the three newest AI music models, given the same six briefs, through one useapi.net API token. All 18 tracks are below, complete and unedited, each with the API call that made it. They are the same briefs we used in July, so every track here has a predecessor to compare against in AI Music APIs Compared (also a 15-minute video).
All 18 cost about a cent a track to generate — against $0.15, $0.08 and $0.03 a song on the three vendors’ own APIs. How that works is below. Listen first and judge the models yourself.
Short on time? The whole test is also a 
9-minute YouTube video — every track’s loudest 30 seconds back to back, loudness-matched, with the prompt, price, and generation time on screen. The full-length tracks and the exact API call behind each one live on this page.
What changed since July
| Service | July | Now | What moved |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mureka | V9 | V9.5 | new default model |
| Flow Music | Lyria 3 Pro | Lyria 3.5 | new flagship — but 3 Pro is still the API default |
| MiniMax | music-2.6 via PixVerse | Music-3.0, native | new model and a new endpoint |
Two of those are ordinary version bumps. The MiniMax row is not: MiniMax music is now a first-class endpoint rather than something you reach through PixVerse. Different endpoint, different billing.
The lineup and what a track costs
| Model | Per track | Same model, vendor’s own API | Cheaper by |
|---|---|---|---|
| MiniMax Music-3.0 | $0.010 | $0.15/composition, +$0.01 if it writes the lyrics | 15× |
| Google Lyria 3.5 | $0.011 | $0.08/song | 7× |
| Mureka V9.5 | $0.0135 | $0.03/song, and the plan starts at $1,000/month | 2× |
Per-track figures are each service’s highest-volume monthly plan — MiniMax Pro, Flow Music Member, Mureka Premier. Smaller plans cost more per track and still come in well under the official APIs.
These services all sell two things: a consumer subscription, priced per month with a generous allowance, and an official API, priced per call. The per-call rate is several times the effective per-song rate of the subscription, because that is where the margin lives.
useapi.net connects to the account you already have. You subscribe to Mureka, MiniMax or Flow Music the way any user would, and we expose that account as a REST API — so generation is billed at consumer-subscription rates, not API rates. On top of that, useapi.net is a flat $15/month for every service we support, with no per-generation surcharge.
Every call in this article used a single token against all three services — no per-service SDK, no separate API keys, no three sets of billing to reconcile. The same token reaches every other service we support: video, image, speech, face swap.
How we tested
Same six briefs as July, copied from the published article rather than retyped — two instrumentals, two vocal tracks where the model writes its own lyrics, and two where we supply both the lyrics and an elaborate style brief. Every model in a round receives the identical text, so what you hear is the model.
Generation times are wall-clock through the API at 15-second polling granularity, so treat them as ballpark rather than benchmark. Where a model titles its own output we kept the title. Tracks are complete and unedited. Mureka returns two songs per generation at 320 kbps, MiniMax one at 256 kbps, and Flow Music an A/B pair plus a lossless WAV — the players below are all 320 kbps MP3 so no model is judged on its codec, and Flow’s lossless originals are available straight from the API.
Part 1 — Instrumentals
Round 1: big-band noir
Big-band noir action theme, around 60 seconds. Walking upright-bass and
baritone-sax groove, snapping rimshot snare, stabbing trumpet-section hits,
vibraphone glints, surf-twang guitar riff over a chromatic minor progression,
roaring full-brass climax with crash cymbals. Retro secret-agent swagger,
punchy analog-style production.
Mureka V9.5 — “Brass Knuckle Boulevard” · 3:19 · generated in 86 s
Show the API call
curl --location 'https://api.useapi.net/v1/mureka/music/create-instrumental' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer user:12345-…' \
--form 'model="V9.5"' \
--form 'prompt="Big-band noir action theme, around 60 seconds. Walking upright-bass and baritone-sax groove, snapping rimshot snare, stabbing trumpet-section hits, vibraphone glints, surf-twang guitar riff over a chromatic minor progression, roaring full-brass climax with crash cymbals. Retro secret-agent swagger, punchy analog-style production."'
MiniMax Music-3.0 — “Midnight Operative” · 2:51 · generated in 182 s
Show the API call
curl --location 'https://api.useapi.net/v1/minimax/music/create' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer user:12345-…' \
--form 'model="music-3.0"' \
--form 'prompt="Big-band noir action theme, around 60 seconds. Walking upright-bass and baritone-sax groove, snapping rimshot snare, stabbing trumpet-section hits, vibraphone glints, surf-twang guitar riff over a chromatic minor progression, roaring full-brass climax with crash cymbals. Retro secret-agent swagger, punchy analog-style production."' \
--form 'instrumental="true"'
Lyria 3.5 — “Double Cross” · 2:52 · generated in 47 s
Show the API call
curl --location 'https://api.useapi.net/v1/flowmusic/music' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer user:12345-…' \
--form 'model="lyria-3.5"' \
--form 'instrumental="true"' \
--form 'prompt="Big-band noir action theme, around 60 seconds. Walking upright-bass and baritone-sax groove, snapping rimshot snare, stabbing trumpet-section hits, vibraphone glints, surf-twang guitar riff over a chromatic minor progression, roaring full-brass climax with crash cymbals. Retro secret-agent swagger, punchy analog-style production."'
The July versions of this brief are on the previous page if you want them back to back.
Round 2: liquid drum and bass
Liquid drum and bass instrumental, around 60 seconds. Fast rolling breakbeats
at 174 BPM, deep warm sub-bass, lush atmospheric pads, delicate piano motif,
airy wordless vocal-chop textures, smooth builds into a euphoric flowing drop.
Silky, melodic, late-night energy, pristine modern production.
Mureka V9.5 — “Piano Afterglow” · 3:22 · generated in 85 s
Show the API call
curl --location 'https://api.useapi.net/v1/mureka/music/create-instrumental' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer user:12345-…' \
--form 'model="V9.5"' \
--form 'prompt="Liquid drum and bass instrumental, around 60 seconds. Fast rolling breakbeats at 174 BPM, deep warm sub-bass, lush atmospheric pads, delicate piano motif, airy wordless vocal-chop textures, smooth builds into a euphoric flowing drop. Silky, melodic, late-night energy, pristine modern production."' \
--form 'title="Take B - Liquid DnB"'
MiniMax Music-3.0 — “Midnight Flow” · 3:45 · generated in 227 s
Show the API call
curl --location 'https://api.useapi.net/v1/minimax/music/create' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer user:12345-…' \
--form 'model="music-3.0"' \
--form 'prompt="Liquid drum and bass instrumental, around 60 seconds. Fast rolling breakbeats at 174 BPM, deep warm sub-bass, lush atmospheric pads, delicate piano motif, airy wordless vocal-chop textures, smooth builds into a euphoric flowing drop. Silky, melodic, late-night energy, pristine modern production."' \
--form 'instrumental="true"'
Lyria 3.5 — “Silken Tides” · 1:06 · generated in 59 s
Show the API call
curl --location 'https://api.useapi.net/v1/flowmusic/music' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer user:12345-…' \
--form 'model="lyria-3.5"' \
--form 'prompt="Liquid drum and bass instrumental, around 60 seconds. Fast rolling breakbeats at 174 BPM, deep warm sub-bass, lush atmospheric pads, delicate piano motif, airy wordless vocal-chop textures, smooth builds into a euphoric flowing drop. Silky, melodic, late-night energy, pristine modern production."' \
--form 'instrumental="true"'
None of the three APIs exposes a duration parameter; every brief asked for “around 60 seconds” in prose. Lyria 3 Pro answered this same prompt in July at 2:46.
Part 2 — Vocals, model writes the lyrics
Round 3: pop duet
One sentence of direction, and a deliberate capability probe — a duet only works if the model can stage two voices.
A playful pop duet between a male and a female singer about texting too late
at night, around 60 seconds, catchy back-and-forth chorus.
Mureka V9.5 — “Are You Still Awake?” · 3:05 · generated in 88 s
Show the API call
curl --location 'https://api.useapi.net/v1/mureka/music/create' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer user:12345-…' \
--form 'model="V9.5"' \
--form 'prompt="A playful pop duet between a male and a female singer about texting too late at night, around 60 seconds, catchy back-and-forth chorus."'
MiniMax Music-3.0 — “Three Little Dots” · 2:31 · generated in 146 s
Show the API call
curl --location 'https://api.useapi.net/v1/minimax/music/create' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer user:12345-…' \
--form 'model="music-3.0"' \
--form 'prompt="A playful pop duet between a male and a female singer about texting too late at night, around 60 seconds, catchy back-and-forth chorus."'
MiniMax named it after the typing indicator and tagged the voices (Male) and (Female) in the lyrics it wrote.
Lyria 3.5 — “You Go First” · 1:59 · generated in 74 s
Show the API call
curl --location 'https://api.useapi.net/v1/flowmusic/music' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer user:12345-…' \
--form 'model="lyria-3.5"' \
--form 'prompt="A playful pop duet between a male and a female singer about texting too late at night, around 60 seconds, catchy back-and-forth chorus."'
Lyria wrote its own two-voice call and response, with the answering lines in parentheses.
Round 4: Spanish flamenco-pop
The language probe — the prompt is English, the song should not be:
A fiery flamenco-pop song in Spanish about summer rain, around 60 seconds,
passionate female vocals.
Mureka V9.5 — “Agua de Julio” · 3:32 · generated in 87 s
Show the API call
curl --location 'https://api.useapi.net/v1/mureka/music/create' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer user:12345-…' \
--form 'model="V9.5"' \
--form 'prompt="A fiery flamenco-pop song in Spanish about summer rain, around 60 seconds, passionate female vocals."'
MiniMax Music-3.0 — “Tacones de Lluvia” · 3:07 · generated in 171 s
Show the API call
curl --location 'https://api.useapi.net/v1/minimax/music/create' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer user:12345-…' \
--form 'model="music-3.0"' \
--form 'prompt="A fiery flamenco-pop song in Spanish about summer rain, around 60 seconds, passionate female vocals."'
Lyria 3.5 — “Lluvia de Verano” · 2:33 · generated in 73 s
Show the API call
curl --location 'https://api.useapi.net/v1/flowmusic/music' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer user:12345-…' \
--form 'model="lyria-3.5"' \
--form 'prompt="A fiery flamenco-pop song in Spanish about summer rain, around 60 seconds, passionate female vocals."'
All three wrote Spanish lyrics from an English prompt, and all three titled the track in Spanish without being asked.
Part 3 — Vocals, our lyrics and an elaborate style brief
For the final format each model receives the same original lyrics plus a detailed production brief. Mureka takes these through music/create-advanced (lyrics + a comma-separated style desc + vocal_gender); MiniMax and Flow Music take a lyrics field next to the style prompt.
Round 5: deep house
[Verse]
Two shadows in a velvet room
Moving slow to a midnight tune
Say it soft, we do not need more
The bass is talking through the floor
[Chorus]
Keep it low light, low light, hold me near
All we need is the bassline here
Round and round till the morning shows
Low light, low light, do not let go
(do not let go, do not let go)
Deep house at 121 BPM. Rolling sub-bass groove, shuffled hi-hats, warm Rhodes
chord stabs, subtle chopped vocal echoes, smoky intimate female lead vocal,
understated hypnotic late-night club production.
Mureka V9.5 — “Low Light” · 3:09 · generated in 101 s
Show the API call
curl --location 'https://api.useapi.net/v1/mureka/music/create-advanced' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer user:12345-…' \
--form 'model="V9.5"' \
--form 'lyrics="[Verse]
Two shadows in a velvet room
Moving slow to a midnight tune
Say it soft, we do not need more
The bass is talking through the floor
[Chorus]
Keep it low light, low light, hold me near
All we need is the bassline here
Round and round till the morning shows
Low light, low light, do not let go
(do not let go, do not let go)"' \
--form 'desc="deep house, late night, smoky, hypnotic, groovy, 121 bpm, female vocals, warm, understated club production"' \
--form 'vocal_gender="female"'
MiniMax Music-3.0 — “Low Light” · 2:47 · generated in 135 s
Show the API call
curl --location 'https://api.useapi.net/v1/minimax/music/create' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer user:12345-…' \
--form 'model="music-3.0"' \
--form 'prompt="Deep house at 121 BPM. Rolling sub-bass groove, shuffled hi-hats, warm Rhodes chord stabs, subtle chopped vocal echoes, smoky intimate female lead vocal, understated hypnotic late-night club production."' \
--form 'lyrics="[Verse]
Two shadows in a velvet room
Moving slow to a midnight tune
Say it soft, we do not need more
The bass is talking through the floor
[Chorus]
Keep it low light, low light, hold me near
All we need is the bassline here
Round and round till the morning shows
Low light, low light, do not let go
(do not let go, do not let go)"'
Lyria 3.5 — “Velvet Room” · 2:26 · generated in 43 s
Show the API call
curl --location 'https://api.useapi.net/v1/flowmusic/music' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer user:12345-…' \
--form 'model="lyria-3.5"' \
--form 'prompt="Deep house at 121 BPM. Rolling sub-bass groove, shuffled hi-hats, warm Rhodes chord stabs, subtle chopped vocal echoes, smoky intimate female lead vocal, understated hypnotic late-night club production."' \
--form 'lyrics="[Verse]
Two shadows in a velvet room
Moving slow to a midnight tune
Say it soft, we do not need more
The bass is talking through the floor
[Chorus]
Keep it low light, low light, hold me near
All we need is the bassline here
Round and round till the morning shows
Low light, low light, do not let go
(do not let go, do not let go)"'
Round 6: jazzy house duet
The hardest brief of the set — a two-voice arrangement with live-jazz layers over a house groove, voice roles tagged in the lyrics. The tags are a hint, not an API parameter, so listen for who actually trades verses and who flattens it into one singer.
[Verse 1 - male]
Blue hour settles on the avenue
Trumpet smoke and a table for two
I talk in rhythm, you answer in rhyme
We swing together on borrowed time
[Verse 2 - female]
You bring the thunder of a double bass
I bring the shimmer of a satin dress
Piano is asking what the night is about
We are the answer when the lights go out
[Chorus - both]
Meet me in the blue hour, where the bass goes slow (blue hour, blue hour)
Sax on the corner and the lights burn low (burn low, burn low)
You take the high note, I will hold the ground
Blue hour, blue hour - do not stop the sound
Mureka V9.5 — “Blue Hour” · 3:12 · generated in 70 s
Show the API call
curl --location 'https://api.useapi.net/v1/mureka/music/create-advanced' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer user:12345-…' \
--form 'model="V9.5"' \
--form 'lyrics="[Verse 1 - male]
Blue hour settles on the avenue
Trumpet smoke and a table for two
I talk in rhythm, you answer in rhyme
We swing together on borrowed time
[Verse 2 - female]
You bring the thunder of a double bass
I bring the shimmer of a satin dress
Piano is asking what the night is about
We are the answer when the lights go out
[Chorus - both]
Meet me in the blue hour, where the bass goes slow (blue hour, blue hour)
Sax on the corner and the lights burn low (burn low, burn low)
You take the high note, I will hold the ground
Blue hour, blue hour - do not stop the sound"' \
--form 'desc="jazzy deep house, jazz house, duet, male and female vocals, group backing vocals, muted trumpet, saxophone, upright bass, swung, 120 bpm, late night, warm sophisticated production"'
MiniMax Music-3.0 — “Blue Hour” · 2:18 · generated in 134 s
Show the API call
curl --location 'https://api.useapi.net/v1/minimax/music/create' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer user:12345-…' \
--form 'model="music-3.0"' \
--form 'prompt="Jazzy deep house duet at 120 BPM. Rolling deep-house groove with swung hi-hats, walking upright-bass motif over the sub, smoky muted trumpet and tenor-sax licks answering the vocals, extended jazz piano chords, a male and a female lead trading verses and joining in harmony on the chorus, small backing ensemble echoing the hook, warm vinyl texture, sophisticated late-night club production."' \
--form 'lyrics="[Verse 1 - male]
Blue hour settles on the avenue
Trumpet smoke and a table for two
I talk in rhythm, you answer in rhyme
We swing together on borrowed time
[Verse 2 - female]
You bring the thunder of a double bass
I bring the shimmer of a satin dress
Piano is asking what the night is about
We are the answer when the lights go out
[Chorus - both]
Meet me in the blue hour, where the bass goes slow (blue hour, blue hour)
Sax on the corner and the lights burn low (burn low, burn low)
You take the high note, I will hold the ground
Blue hour, blue hour - do not stop the sound"'
Lyria 3.5 — “Blue Hour” · 2:34 · generated in 58 s
Show the API call
curl --location 'https://api.useapi.net/v1/flowmusic/music' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer user:12345-…' \
--form 'model="lyria-3.5"' \
--form 'prompt="Jazzy deep house duet at 120 BPM. Rolling deep-house groove with swung hi-hats, walking upright-bass motif over the sub, smoky muted trumpet and tenor-sax licks answering the vocals, extended jazz piano chords, a male and a female lead trading verses and joining in harmony on the chorus, small backing ensemble echoing the hook, warm vinyl texture, sophisticated late-night club production."' \
--form 'lyrics="[Verse 1 - male]
Blue hour settles on the avenue
Trumpet smoke and a table for two
I talk in rhythm, you answer in rhyme
We swing together on borrowed time
[Verse 2 - female]
You bring the thunder of a double bass
I bring the shimmer of a satin dress
Piano is asking what the night is about
We are the answer when the lights go out
[Chorus - both]
Meet me in the blue hour, where the bass goes slow (blue hour, blue hour)
Sax on the corner and the lights burn low (burn low, burn low)
You take the high note, I will hold the ground
Blue hour, blue hour - do not stop the sound"'
With the lyrics supplied, all three took the title from the chorus hook.
FAQ
What does a track cost through useapi.net? About a cent. MiniMax is $0.010 a track, Lyria through Flow Music $0.011, and Mureka $0.0135, each on that service’s highest-volume monthly plan.
Why is it cheaper than the official APIs? Because you bring your own account. useapi.net exposes the consumer subscription you already pay for as a REST API, so generation is billed at subscription rates rather than per-call API rates. useapi.net itself is a flat $15/month for every supported service, with no per-generation surcharge.
Can I run all three from one account? Yes. One useapi.net token reaches Mureka, MiniMax and Flow Music — every call in this article was made with a single token — plus every other service we support. You still hold your own account with each service.
How do I pick Lyria 3.5 rather than 3 Pro? Pass model: "lyria-3.5" on POST /music. lyria-3-pro remains the default, so omitting the parameter renders the older model.
Do any of these APIs let me set the track length? No. None of the three exposes a duration parameter. The amount of lyrics you supply is the only lever — more words generally means a longer song.
Can I get more than one track per call? On MiniMax, yes — quantity up to 3, billed as three songs. Mureka returns two songs per generation and Flow Music an A/B pair, both included in the one generation.
Cross posted
Also on YouTube as a 9-minute listening cut. Previous round: AI Music APIs Compared.