30/06/2026
Music platform TIDAL sets a good example:
- You are allowed to upload AI-generated songs (with an AI label)
- But Tidal pays no royalties on them
A positive development! After all, almost half of all music uploaded to streaming platforms like Spotify is now 'AI-generated'. And those tracks are paid for just like your real tracks. In other words: more and more people are eating from the same trough, causing real artists to earn even less from their music. And their income from streaming platforms was already so minimal: did you know that 92% of artists earn less than 5% of their income from streaming platforms? This just goes to show how important live concerts are to them. NOTV hopes to offer artists a helping hand as an extra source of income through ticketed livestreams of their concerts. Visit www.notv.com for more information.
tidal just published its AI music policy... and omfg 😳
first thing to know: they're not BANNING AI music. it's allowed on the platform but it's being held to stricter rules than music made by actual humans.
from mid-July, fully AI generated tracks get an "AI" label. so when you're listening you'll actually know whether a real person made the thing or not 👏
the bigger one... and it's already live: fully AI tracks WON'T earn royalties. tidal's reasoning is that the money should go to music actually produced, written and performed by people. can i get a HELL FU***NG YES
they're also cleaning house! so anything faking a real artist, tricking listeners or flooding the platform with spam uploads gets blocked from mid-July
and this is not JUST tidal's job, they're also asking distributors who deliver music to flag AI tracks before they even reach the platform.
so the short version is: AI music is welcome, but it's labelled, watched and it doesn't get paid. which is amazing. a platform is FINALLY drawing a line between "made with a tool" and "made by a person" and that is something to be so celebrated.
which is the whole thing really. the value of music has never been in the tool itself. it's in the person making it, and i think the more time goes on, and the more AI slop we are fed, the more we recognise how true that statement is.
real vocals, written and sung by an actual human ✨
katemcgill.co.uk
