TIDAL stops paying royalties on fully AI-generated music

4 July 2026 · SplitScout

TIDAL published a new AI policy at the end of June, and it has teeth. Starting July 15, any track identified as 100 percent AI-generated stops earning on the platform. No royalties, no direct-to-fan sales. The tracks stay up, but that's it.

The policy has three parts:

**Demonetization** Fully AI-generated music can't collect royalties or be sold through TIDAL's direct-to-fan system. TIDAL isn't banning it, it's just not paying for it.

**An "AI" badge** Anything that's wholly machine-generated gets a visible AI tag, so listeners know what they're hearing before they press play. TIDAL says it plans to extend the badge to "substantially AI-generated" tracks once detection tools get better.

**Impersonation removal** Automated tools will take down AI music that imitates a real artist or group. That part is a removal, not a tag.

Here's the quote worth reading, from TIDAL's Tony Gervino: "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."

**What this means if you make lofi**

If you write, play or produce your music yourself, nothing changes. Using AI somewhere in the process (a mastering assistant, generated artwork, a sample you flipped) does not trigger the policy. It targets tracks that are wholly machine-generated, start to finish.

If anything, this is good news. Streaming royalties come out of a shared pool, and every AI-spam upload that earns a fraction of a cent earns it out of the same pot as your tracks. Fewer paid AI streams means the pool tilts back toward people who actually make music.

One thing to watch: Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and Qobuz have all been moving in the same direction, so expect "is this AI-generated" to become a standard question. Some labels already ask about it in their demo forms, and more will.

Full policy is at https://tidal.com/ai-policy. Hat tip to the Stereofox Discord, where we first caught the conversation.