Apple Music will add labels to AI-generated music later this year.
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Earlier this year, the streaming platform said they planned to let users know if they were listening to music that had been made using AI. Since then, however, the plans have not come to fruition, while other streaming services have launched similar services.
Now, though, Apple Music has announced that its “Made With AI” label will begin being added to music created with the technology later this year. In a note to its industry partners, Apple Music said that record labels and distributors will be required to tag songs in which “a material portion of the content” was created using AI, per Variety.
The labels follow Apple Music’s introduction in March of AI Transparency Tagging, which dictates in the service’s systems whether a track used AI.
“As we implement Made With AI Labels, content providers will be important partners,” Apple Music said. “They are best positioned to know how their content was created, and the AI Transparency Tags that should be used.”
It follows similar moves from other music platforms. Bandcamp banned all AI-created music at the start of this year, saying: “We reserve the right to remove any music on suspicion of being AI-generated.” Beatport followed suit just last week, promising “greater transparency” for listeners while “protecting human creativity”.
Similarly, earlier in the summer, TIDAL shared a new policy to crack down on AI-created music. The online service confirmed that it would not be paying royalties to any material made entirely by artificial intelligence.
Spotify, meanwhile, is introducing a new labelling system so that users can quickly identify artists and content created by the rising tech. Elsewhere, Deezer has revealed that AI-generated music now surpasses 50 per cent of daily uploads on the platform.
Earlier this month, a new study found that AI was detected in almost 40 per cent of music released worldwide in July.
In March, figures from the UK music industry responded to new government action on copyright, which prevents AI firms from using existing work without permission. However, they argued that much more needed to be done beyond that first step.
Major acts such as Paul McCartney, Kate Bush, Dua Lipa and Elton John previously led a campaign urging the government to protect artists’ work from being ripped off. This came after the government put forward controversial plans to change copyright rules to let AI firms “steal” copyrighted works without paying or seeking consent from music creators, writers and artists.
Last year, SoundCloud updated its AI policy in response to backlash. The service had faced criticism over appearing to permit content uploaded to the streamer to be used to train AI. “Our position is simple: AI should support artists, not replace them,” said CEO Eliah Seton. “Any use of these tools on SoundCloud will continue to reflect that.”
In February, Google gave its virtual assistant Gemini the ability to create AI-generated music.
A study in 2025 found that 97 per cent of people “can’t tell the difference” between real and AI music. The previous year, another study warned that people working in music were likely to lose a quarter of their income to AI over the next four years.
In other news, Boy George has hit out at Bandcamp for removing his pro-Israel song ‘We Will Dance Again’, which was made using AI. Bandcamp told NME that the track was “removed based on violation of our Acceptable Use & Moderation Policy, which in specific regard to this case, prohibits music and audio that is wholly or in substantial part created, composed, or generated by artificial intelligence”.
Empire Of The Sun’s Luke Steele recently admitted that he uses AI to make music, saying the tech can “empower artists that know how to use it”. Tyga said he used artificial intelligence as a “tool” on his new album ‘$tarface’, too. Queen’s Brian May, however, claimed “we actually don’t need AI” last week.
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