Tidal becomes first music streaming platform to stop paying royalties for fully AI-generated songs
Tidal will no longer pay out royalties to artists whose songs are fully generated with artificial intelligence (AI).
A dexterous bionic hand plays the piano. Tang Yanjun/China News Service/VCG via Getty.
Tidal will no longer pay out royalties to artists whose songs are fully generated with artificial intelligence (AI).
- Tidal will stop paying royalties for fully AI-generated songs, becoming the first major music streaming platform to adopt this policy.
- Artists can still upload AI-assisted music, but Tidal says royalty payments should go to works created by people.
- Starting in mid-July, Tidal will label fully AI-generated songs to help listeners identify synthetic content.
- The move reflects growing pressure on streaming platforms to address AI-generated music, fraud concerns, and fair payment for human artists.
AI music has been flooding music streaming services for quite some time, sparking a debate about deepfake music, legacy fraud, and the failure of streaming platforms to flag synthetic content.
Although Tidal isn’t the first platform to act on it, it is the first company in the industry to stop paying royalties on AI-generated music.
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“We’re only in the beginning of the era of AI-generated music. We acknowledge the ongoing debate regarding whether certain AI-generated music should be entitled to earn royalties,” Tidal said on a recently published policy page regarding AI music.
“This debate will continue as the technology advances and rightsholders and AI music platforms develop licensing models. 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 Norwegian-American music streaming service explained.
This doesn’t mean artists can no longer create music with AI tools and upload it to Tidal’s platform. The music platform stresses that artists should have the freedom to create music using AI tools, just as listeners should have the liberty to listen to it. However, Tidal will impose stricter rules on AI-generated music.
“Due to the problems associated with the influx of AI-generated content, we will hold AI-generated content to a higher standard of content integrity. Tidal will therefore accept AI-generated music, provided it meets the standards laid out in this policy and our terms and conditions, as well as in our agreements with rightsholders and distributors.”
To inform listeners they’re playing AI music, starting mid-July, Tidal will add an icon next to songs that are identified as fully AI-generated. As this method becomes more reliable, Tidal will expand its tagging practices to songs that are substantially AI-generated.
In June 2025, Deezer became the first music streaming platform to explicitly tag AI-generated music in an attempt to tackle fraudulent purposes. In addition, the music streaming service doesn’t include AI music in recommendations and playlists. However, it does pay royalties to artists who use AI tools to make music.
“At its best, AI is unlocking incredible new ways for artists to create music and for listeners to discover it. At its worst, AI can be used by bad actors and content farms to confuse or deceive listeners, push ‘slop’ into the ecosystem, and interfere with authentic artists working to build their careers,” the platform said in a press release at the time.
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