Tidal Eliminates Royalties for Fully AI

Tidal Eliminates Royalties for Fully AI-Generated Music

Music streaming platform Tidal has announced a new AI policy that will crack down on artificial intelligence (AI)-generated music.

The policy says that as of Monday (June 29), Tidal will not knowingly attribute royalties to music the company identifies as wholly AI-generated.

In addition, beginning in mid-July, Tidal will identify and tag music that it identifies as 100% AI-generated. It will also block or remove AI-generated music that it determines to be used for fraudulent purposes such as deceiving listeners or exploiting the music, name or likeness of musicians.

When AI detection methods become more reliable, Tidal will also identify and tag music that it identifies as substantially AI-generated, according to the policy.

Tidal’s AI policy was sparked by listener comments that they don’t want to be exposed to wholly AI-generated music and by a flood of music that is completely AI-generated and often impersonates existing artists for financial gain, Tony Gervino, executive vice president and editor-in-chief at Tidal, said in an article released Monday.

“We are committed to protecting and rewarding organic creativity to avoid compromising an artist’s ability to connect with and build their fandom from Tidal subscribers,” Gervino said.

Gervino said Tidal’s AI policy is not meant to “bash technological advancement,” adding that the company understands that technology helps artists better understand their fans, build new tools for recording and engineering their music, automate their workflow and build their own instruments.

“We will update Tidal’s AI policy as the technology continues to evolve,” Gervino said.

PYMNTS reported in March that several platforms have started to label AI music.

Deezer invested in its own AI detection infrastructure and found that the number of fully AI-generated tracks it received on a daily basis rose from 10,000 in early 2025 to over 60,000 in March. Eighty-five percent of the tracks in 2025 were fraudulent ones used to game royalty payouts.

Apple Music began supplying labels and distributors with tags to be applied to AI-powered tracks, compositions, artwork and music videos. The company said these requirements will eventually become mandatory for new content.

Meta launched a dedicated feed within the Meta AI app that allows users to create, remix and share AI-generated content.