Tidal just drew a line in the sand on AI music – 100% AI-generated tracks will not earn royalties on the music streaming platform

Tidal has published a new policy on AI-generated music content
Along with labeling 100% AI tracks, it also targets “essentially generated” stuff
Tidal “will not tolerate AI-generated music that mimics an artist or group”

Tired of artificial intelligence pigs in your music – or track your sensitive ear perceives to be AI-generated — in recommended playlists? You are not alone.

In a welcome move for recording artists, their parents, their loved ones and just lovers of original musical works featuring human vocals, high-resolution music streaming giant Tidal has released a comprehensive AI policy with the headline “Promoting Fairness and Economic Empowerment in the Era of AI-Generated Music”.

The release of the policy follows extensive progress in this area by Deezer, with its free AI detection tool that works on any streaming platform, Bandcamp’s strong and succinct anti-AI stance laid out in January this year, Apple’s March release of (but somewhat shaky) ‘Transparency Tags’, which rely on record labels and distributors to tag AI content on Apple, Spot Verified, Spotify and bad… which verify that an artist is human, but does not help filter the slop from any generated playlists.

The tide is turning on text-requested AI music creation

Interestingly, Tidal seems to go even further than Deezer here. While the rival platform’s anti-AI filter currently only works on 100% AI tracks, Tidal’s policy says: “As AI detection methods become more reliable, we will extend this tag to content that is essentially AI-generated”. Bold.

The Tidal document adds: “However, the responsibility for identifying and tagging AI-generated content should not rest with Tidal alone. We expect — and will begin to enforce — that content distributors identify AI-generated content before it reaches our platform.”

So a two-pronged attack on artificial intelligence? It’s a move that can only be seen as a win for musicians and bands. That said, it remains to be seen how effective Tidal’s specific anti-AI software will be — and also who exactly will help the company achieve its admirable goals.

I asked Tidal if it might have implemented Deezer’s anti-AI tool (which the company made available to competitors back in January and subsequently offered to anyone who wanted to check their playlists for AI tracks regardless of the streaming service) and was told “We’re currently working with an external partner to manage detection.”

So it looks like Tidal is keeping its cards very close to its chest in terms of how it’s going to deliver on the policy. Regardless, it is a positive step in the fight to keep the music and the musicians (a)live.