Spend some time looking up your favorite artists on YouTube Music and you’ll probably come across a song of theirs that you never even heard of.
And usually, that music discovery experience feels amazing. But it definitely feels a bit deflating whenever that song ends up being a new tune an AI tool cooked up in just a few minutes. Then there's the presence of original songs from AI artists that sound uncannily real (with some of them even climbing the Billboard music charts!).
Thankfully, there has been a concerted effort from popular music streaming services to combat the rise of songs birthed by generative AI. Now YouTube Music has joined that crusade by creating a new system that makes users more aware of AI songs.
Here’s a quick breakdown of how that system works, along with an overview of all the other music streaming services that have announced and implemented their own defenses against AI-generated music.
A new label that makes it clear that AI was involved in the music-making process
The official YouTube blog announced its implementation of a new system that places distinctive labels on the player page for a track where AI played a huge role in its creation.
So, in any instance where a song includes a composition or vocal track that was clearly created through generative AI, that label will appear. Clicking on it will bring users to a menu that provides more details on the AI track, should you be more interested in learning about its origin.
YouTube has stated that it has worked with several music partners to properly set up its new AI-generated music identifier and labeler. And while that new feature doesn’t outright ban AI music from YouTube Music, it will still serve as a strong transparency measure for everyday listeners.
Alongside YouTube Music are a host of other music platforms that have installed their own measures against AI music. Global digital music streaming platform Deezer stands out for being the first of its kind to create an AI music tagging system. Alexis Lanternier, the CEO of Deezer, spoke about maintaining a level of trust with its listeners and streaming artists by utilizing this detection method.
“AI is not inherently good or bad, but we believe a responsible and transparent approach is key to building trust with our users and the music industry,” he stated. “We are also clear in our commitment to safeguarding the rights of artists and songwriters at a time where copyright law is being put into question in favor of training AI models.”
Bandcamp has gone the farthest in its approach by completely omitting any music and audio that is fully or substantially created with the use of AI. Any use of AI tools to impersonate other artists or styles is strictly prohibited in accordance with our existing policies prohibiting impersonation and intellectual property infringement,” the online music distribution platform went on to say.
TIDAL has chosen to cut off the monetization of AI music altogether, plus Apple Music has introduced “AI Transparency Tags” for AI tunes (which record labels and music distributors are responsible for since they must submit the tags to Apple for proper labeling). Spotify has gone a long way toward protecting its listeners from the annoyance of AI music with its systems, which has led to the streaming company removing more than 75 million tracks labeled as AI spam.
Last but certainly not least, Qobuz must also be commended for its AI music detection system and its decision to withhold royalties from artists with fraudulent streaming patterns.
The takeaway
YouTube Music’s concerted efforts to make listeners aware of the AI music they come across are necessary in a time when generative AI is being used to flood streaming services with obvious (and not-so-obvious) audio slop.
Just take a peek at this survey conducted by LANDR and you’ll get a clearer picture of just how much artists use AI in their music-making process. Seeing 66% of the surveyed artists using AI for “creative tasks” is definitely surprising to read (and disappointing).
Anyways, it’s just good to know that YouTube Music and companies like it are going the extra mile to label AI music or block it from their music libraries altogether.
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