Listeners overwhelmingly want AI-generated music labeled, even though most cannot reliably identify it by listening. Streaming services are introducing disclosure and royalty policies as uploads of fully generated tracks increase.
Listeners want to know who made the music
The Velvet Sundown exceeded one million monthly Spotify listeners in summer 2025 before its creators acknowledged that the band’s music, images and backstory were generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
In a Deezer/Ipsos survey of 9,000 people across eight countries last fall, 97% could not reliably distinguish fully AI-generated tracks from human-made music in a blind test. Yet 80% wanted fully AI-generated music clearly labeled, and more than half were uncomfortable with their inability to tell the difference.
Academic studies have also found that listeners tend to value and engage more deeply with the same piece of music when it is labeled as human-made rather than AI-generated. labeled as human-made rather than AI-generated
Streaming services set disclosure policies
- Deezer detects and tags AI-generated tracks, excludes them from recommendations and has begun removing tracks tied to fraud.
- Tidal stopped paying royalties on fully AI-generated songs in July.
- In July, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), joined by the Recording Academy, Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and the independent label community, launched a voluntary framework with “AI-generated” and “AI assisted” labels.
- In August, Spotify announced an “AI Persona” badge for profiles whose artist identities appear to be AI-generated. It said those profiles would be excluded from editorial and algorithmic recommendations by default, citing listener objections to discovering that an apparently human artist was not a person.
Most listening still takes place on services that have not generally stopped paying royalties on fully AI-generated tracks. Spotify has also launched a generative AI research lab and is developing AI music products with the three major labels.
Uploads rise as royalty questions persist
Suno reportedly generates about seven million songs a day. Fully AI-generated tracks rose from roughly one-third of Deezer’s daily uploads in late 2025 to more than half by June, or about 90,000 tracks a day.
Despite that volume, fully AI-generated music accounts for 1% to 3% of listening on Deezer. The company says most of those streams are fraudulent.
AI-generated streams that earn royalties draw from the shared pool paid to artists. By the calculations of the congressional sponsors of the Living Wage for Musicians Act, an artist needs more than 800,000 monthly Spotify streams to earn the equivalent of a $15-an-hour job.
