TIDAL has shared a new policy to crack down on AI-generated music, and confirmed that it will not be paying royalties to any music made entirely by artificial intelligence.

The push for change comes as the use of AI in music has become increasingly concerning and increasingly prominent in recent years, and a study conducted last year revealed that 97 per cent of people “can’t tell the difference” between real and AI music.

Before then, other concerns arose when Deezer revealed that 28 per cent of music uploaded to the streaming platform was fully AI-generated, and a warning emerged that people working in music are likely to lose a quarter of their income to Artificial Intelligence over the next four years.

Now, streaming service TIDAL has introduced a new policy to combat the influx of AI-generated music on its platform, and vowed to label and withhold royalties from tracks made entirely by artificial intelligence.

From July 15, there will be a badge that says “AI” on music that has been found to be artificially generated, any content designed to impersonate an artist will be taken down, and users will have the option to filter all 100 per cent AI-generated content out.

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The complete list of changes are outlined in a new policy titled “Promoting Fairness and Economic Empowerment in the Era of AI-Generated Music”. In it, TIDAL highlights that while AI is “not new to music creation”, it has become increasingly prominent. Due to this, it will only be revoking royalties and labelling music that is made entirely by “text-prompted AI”.

It will still accept AI-generated music as “artists should have the freedom to create with AI tools”, but will allow users to filter it out too as “listeners should have the autonomy to choose the type of content they consume”.

The “AI” labels on songs and albums will be introduced in mid-July, and the platform will also be banning any AI music that “exploits an individual’s or group’s music, name or likeness, deceives listeners, or diminishes the quality of our service”.

As for the decision not to pay royalties to any music made entirely by AI, TIDAL shared that while there is still a general “debate” on the topic, their priority is to “ensure royalties go to original works directly produced, written, and performed by people”.

Read the full policy here.

TIDAL isn’t the only streaming platform to crack down on the rise of AI-generated music either. Back in September, Spotify confirmed that it was removing 75million “spammy tracks” and targeting impersonators. Around that same time, research found that AI-generated songs were being uploaded to dead musicians’ Spotify profiles without permission.

Deezer have also launched a tool that detects AI-generated music on playlists from 20 different streaming platforms.

This spring, the government announced it would ditch “deeply damaging” plans to allow AI firms to use copyrighted works without permission.

That move came as Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Dua Lipa and Elton John led a campaign urging the government to protect artists’ work. It followed the government putting forward controversial plans to change copyright rules and let AI firms “steal” copyrighted works without paying or seeking consent from music creators, writers and artists.

Earlier this month, various music industry bodies from around the world penned an open letter that calls for artists and songwriters to offer consent before going into any AI deals.

Famous faces to recently speak out against the increasing prominence of AI include Pope Leo XIV, SZA, Justin Hawkins, Jack Antonoff and Billy Corgan.

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