While most music tech giants are tripping over themselves to embrace the generative AI boom, the streaming platform Tidal is drawing a hard line in the sand by completely demonetizing AI-generated music.Ad 0:00 Click for sound 0:00 / 0:00 In a sweeping policy update announced this week, the company declared that it will no longer pay out royalties for tracks generated wholly by artificial intelligence, actively choosing to prioritize the livelihoods of human artists over algorithmic content farms.
According to the platform’s new guidelines, Tidal will still allow AI-generated music on its service, acknowledging that listeners should retain the autonomy to choose the type of content they consume.However, the company is implementing strict guardrails to ensure that AI does not dilute the economic pool for legitimate musicians, explicitly stating that its priority is directing royalties to original works that are directly produced, written and performed by actual human beings.
To guarantee that users know exactly what they are streaming, Tidal is also rolling out a mandatory labeling system.Starting in mid-July, the platform will attach a highly visible icon to any content identified as entirely AI-generated.
“As AI-detection methods become more reliable, we will expand this tag to content that is substantially AI-generated,” according to Tidal.“But the responsibility to identify and tag 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.” The updated policy goes far beyond mere financial restrictions by aggressively targeting the fraudulent activity that has become a hallmark of the contentious generative audio space.Tidal announced a zero-tolerance stance against synthetic music that exploits the name or likeness of real individuals.
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