Tidal Refuses Royalties for AI Music Starting in July

Tidal Refuses Royalties for AI-Generated Music Starting July

Tidal today shared its new policies regarding music generated by AI and how the platform plans to "protect artists" and "inform listeners." Instead of completely banning it, starting July 15, Tidal will label tracks it identifies as 100% AI-generated with an icon. However, effective immediately, these tracks will no longer be monetizable.

"Tidal's priority is to ensure that royalties go to original works directly produced, written, and performed by people. Therefore, we cannot allocate royalties to music we identify as fully generated by AI," the company's announcement states.

The platform did not specify which tools it uses to identify AI-generated music, but the new policy states that as tools improve and become more reliable, it also plans to add the label to any upload that is "substantially generated by AI." In addition to its own detection tools, Tidal warns that the identification of AI-generated music should not be its sole responsibility and that the platform "will begin to enforce" an expectation that content distributors must properly label AI-generated music.

In an effort to deter the use of any generative AI tools that "exploit the music, name, or image of an individual or group, deceive listeners, or diminish the quality of our service," Tidal will also remove or block, starting mid-July, "AI-generated music associated with fraudulent activities." These activities may include music designed to mislead listeners or interfere with authentic artists, high-volume uploads, or "unusual streaming activity."

Tidal's competitors have already addressed the influx of AI-generated music with their own tools and policies. In April, Spotify launched a new verification program where certain artists confirmed to be real people received a green checkmark and a "Verified by Spotify" badge on their profiles, while profiles that primarily upload AI-generated content are not eligible for this distinction. Deezer has also developed tools to detect fully AI-generated music upon upload to reduce its visibility on the platform, and last month, it created a website to scan your playlists on other streaming platforms for AI-generated tracks.