TIDAL Draws a Line in the Sand: Fully AI-Generated Music Won’t Earn Royalties

The music debate about intelligence just got a lot more interesting.

TIDAL has officially decided that if a song is created entirely by intelligence it will not receive royalty payments on the TIDAL platform.

That is a bold move by TIDAL.

It is not a ban on intelligence music.

It is not a out war against artificial intelligence music.

It is a clear statement about where the money should go according to TIDAL.

Honestly it feels like one of the first music streaming services willing to make a real economic decision instead of just talking around the issue of artificial intelligence music.

Beginning July 15 tracks identified as being artificial intelligence-generated will be marked with a visible label so listeners know exactly what they are hearing.

Importantly those artificial intelligence songs will not qualify for royalty payments because TIDAL says royalties belong to music that was written performed and created by actual people, not artificial intelligence.

That does not mean artificial intelligence music disappears overnight from TIDAL.

You can still upload intelligence music assuming it follows the TIDAL platforms rules.

If software made the entire track do not expect a paycheck from TIDAL because TIDAL will not give royalty payments to artificial intelligence music.

There is a difference between intelligence music and music made by people.

It is less about censorship of intelligence music and more about value of music made by people.

TIDAL is also tightening the screws on actors who use artificial intelligence music to impersonate artists mislead listeners manipulate streaming numbers or fuel fraudulent uploads and such artificial intelligence music can be removed entirely from TIDAL.

The company is also putting responsibility on distributors to accurately disclose artificial intelligence-generated content before it ever reaches the TIDAL platform.

That last part might end up being bigger than people realize because it could stop a lot of artificial intelligence music from being uploaded to TIDAL.

Of trying to catch every fake artificial intelligence song after it is uploaded TIDAL wants distributors to help stop the flood of artificial intelligence music before it starts.

Detection of intelligence music is not perfect either.

The company admits todays technology is not reliable enough to identify music that is only partially created with artificial intelligence.

For now enforcement applies to tracks considered wholly artificial intelligence-generated and TIDAL will not give royalty payments to such artificial intelligence music.

As detection tools improve those policies could expand to include artificial intelligence-generated music.

The timing of this decision makes sense because streaming platforms like TIDAL are dealing with an explosion of intelligence-generated uploads.

Some are experiments with artificial intelligence music.

Others are little more than spam factories pumping out thousands of intelligence tracks in hopes of gaming royalty systems, which is a problem for TIDAL and other music streaming services.

Industry-wide fraudulent artificial intelligence streams have become a growing concern forcing platforms like TIDAL to rethink how royalties are distributed to artists.

This is not happening in isolation either because several major music services have already introduced intelligence detection tools, content labeling or anti-spam policies to deal with artificial intelligence music.

Tidals approach stands out because it directly targets monetization of artificial intelligence music instead of simply flagging it which is a meaningful distinction.

Course the bigger question has not gone away and that is where exactly do we draw the line with artificial intelligence music.

What happens when a producer uses intelligence to generate a melody then spends days rearranging it recording live instruments mixing everything by hand and adding original vocals and the result is a song that is a mix of artificial intelligence and human music.

Is that intelligence music or human music or is it both and should it receive royalty payments from TIDAL.

Nobody seems to have an answer yet and that is why TIDAL stopped short of banning artificial intelligence music altogether because technology is not the enemy but abuse of artificial intelligence music probably is.

For artists who have watched bot farms fake albums and artificial intelligence impersonations creep into streaming services over the couple years this policy could feel like a step, toward protecting the people actually making music, not artificial intelligence music.

It will not solve every problem, not even close. It does send a message and in an industry that is moving faster than the rulebook can keep up someone finally picked a side and that someone is TIDAL.

Read their official policy here.