Tidal told its users on June 29 that songs it identifies as wholly AI-generated will no longer earn royalties on the service, and will not be eligible for its direct-to-fan sales either. The company framed the move as a way of making sure payouts reach music that people wrote and performed.
The cut-off is narrow. Tidal told 404 Media that "wholly AI-generated" means every element of a track came from a generative model, that an outside partner is handling detection, and that royalty changes start on July 15. It says it has no figures yet on how many tracks will be affected.
AI music is not being removed. Tidal says artists should be free to use AI tools and listeners free to choose what they hear, so it plans to label such tracks and hold them to stricter integrity checks instead. It also admitted the debate is open on whether music from properly licensed models should one day earn money.
404 Media contrasts this with Spotify, which has promised labelling but also leaned into AI features, and notes that AI acts such as The Velvet Sundown and Breaking Rust were still live on Tidal at the time of writing, the former without any AI disclosure. Whether they keep earning will depend on how Tidal's detection treats them after mid-July.
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