Tidal stops – Tidal says it will keep AI-generated music on its service, but starting July 15 it will label tracks identified as 100% AI-generated and strip them of monetization, alongside new enforcement steps against fraudulent AI music.
For a music platform built on paying creators, Tidal’s message lands with a particular kind of finality: AI music may still show up on the service, but the money won’t.
Tidal shared new policies about AI-generated music today, framing them around protecting artists and informing listeners. The company says that starting on July 15 it will label tracks it has identified as being 100 percent AI-generated with an icon. The policy is blunt on what comes next: those labeled tracks will no longer be monetizable.
“Tidal’s priority is ensuring royalties go to original works directly produced, written, and performed by people. We will therefore not knowingly attribute royalties to music we identify as wholly AI-generated,” the company’s announcement reads.
Tidal didn’t say what tools it uses to identify AI-generated music. But the policy does lay out a path forward. As its detection tools improve and become more reliable. Tidal says it eventually plans to add the label to uploads that are “substantially AI-generated. ” not just ones that are fully AI-generated.
There’s also a clear shift in who Tidal expects to do the labeling work. Alongside its own detection, the platform warns that identifying AI-generated music should not be its responsibility alone. Tidal says it will “begin to enforce” an expectation that content distributors properly label AI-generated music as well.
The company is pairing the royalty cutoff with another enforcement move. Starting in mid-July. Tidal says it will remove or block “AI-generated music associated with fraudulent activity.” In its description. those activities can include music designed to deceive listeners or interfere with authentic artists. high-volume uploads. or “unusual streaming activity.”.
It’s a stance that aims to separate everyday AI experimentation from content that looks engineered to mislead.
Other streaming platforms have already been wrestling with the same wave. In April. Spotify launched a verification program in which some artists the company confirmed as 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 the distinction. Deezer, meanwhile, developed tools for detecting fully AI-generated music when it’s uploaded to reduce its visibility on that platform. Last month. it also created a website you can use to scan your playlists on other streaming platforms to detect AI-generated tracks.
Tidal’s decision doesn’t follow the same route as a full ban. Instead, it draws a line around monetization and transparency—keeping AI music technically available while making sure that, when the platform decides something is wholly AI-generated, royalties won’t follow it.
Tidal AI-generated music royalties monetization Spotify verification Deezer detection music streaming cybersecurity fraud detection digital music policy
So basically Tidal is gonna kill AI music money. Cool.
I don’t even know how they’re figuring out what’s 100% AI, like the whole thing is shady. If someone’s using auto-tune or something does that count? Feels like they’re gonna label the wrong tracks and then boom no monetization.
Wait so July 15 Tidal takes the money away from AI songs… but they’re still letting them be on the app? That’s kinda backwards. Also “substantially AI-generated” later? Sounds like they’ll move the goalposts once their detector gets better or whatever.
This is going to backfire. People will just tag everything as human “inspired” or whatever and then the real artists get ignored. And what counts as “fraudulent activity” like is it just any AI song that messes with algorithms? I’m not saying AI music is evil but labeling and blocking sounds like censorship with extra steps.