Music streaming service Tidal announced it will begin labeling songs that are entirely generated by artificial intelligence and will remove tracks it determines to be fraudulent or deceptive. The company said it will roll out automated detection tools in mid-July.
As CNET reported, listeners will see an "AI" icon next to music identified as 100 percent AI-generated. The label applies only to fully AI-generated songs for now. Tidal said it will "expand these policies to music that is substantially AI-generated when AI detection technology is sufficiently reliable to do so."
The company will also remove royalty eligibility from AI-generated music. Only music that is directly produced, written, and performed by people will qualify for monetization. Forbes has reported the AI-generated music market could be worth $4 billion by 2028.
Tidal's new policy defines fraudulent activity as AI-generated music that aims to deceive listeners, interfere with authentic artists and their audience, or involves high-volume uploads or unusual streaming activity.
The move comes as AI tools have made it possible for anyone to generate full songs with little or no musical training. Platforms like Tidal also allow users to upload their own music directly, which has created an opening for large-scale uploads of synthetic content. Those two factors together have pushed streaming services to develop clearer policies around AI music.
Artists who believe their work has been incorrectly labeled can challenge the designation. "Any creator who believes their work has been incorrectly flagged can contact our Support team, and we'll work with them promptly," a Tidal representative told CNET.
Tidal is not the only platform moving in this direction. Deezer has released its own AI detection tools. Spotify tightened its AI policies in September of last year, introducing a spam filter tool and encouraging artists to report AI-generated fakes. Tidal's approach is broadly similar to Spotify's but adds the explicit removal of royalties as an enforcement measure.
The mid-July timeline gives artists and uploaders a short window before automated detection goes live on the platform.
