Music industry launches AI-generated content labels

A file photo of a woman listening to music.

NEW YORK - Several major music industry organizations on Friday unveiled a labelling system for content created with generative artificial intelligence that they would like to see widely adopted.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced the voluntary labels alongside six other groups including the Grammys.

“Fans want to know whether and how generative AI has been used,” the chief executives of IFPI and RIAA said in a prepared statement.

“These labels will provide an immediately understandable and easily scalable approach to transparency.”

They unveiled two labels. The first would indicate music that is primarily “AI-generated” -- cases where artificial intelligence “was used to generate the entirety or the primary portion of the creative elements of the recording.”

This includes tracks generated “entirely” from AI prompts, as well as lead vocals and “key” instrumental tracks that are AI-generated, according to the statement.

The second label applies to “AI-assisted” music recording which are still “created substantially by humans and expresses human creativity” but contain “some expressive elements” that were generated with AI.

However, humans must perform the lead vocals and primary instrumental tracks.

This voluntary labelling system is designed for “broad, global adoption,” including on streaming services.

Music streaming site Deezer systematically flags tracks generated with AI, which the company recently said appear in close to half of new uploads. In June, it launched an “AI music detector” which it said is 99.8% accurate.

Earlier this year, an Apple Music executive told Billboard that more than one third of new uploads were entirely created with AI.

The Digital Media Association, a trade group representing streaming companies including Apple Music, Amazon and Spotify, said it was following the labelling announcement closely and looks forward to receiving more detailed and accurate AI metadata as a way to “strengthen our ability to give fans the transparency they deserve.”

“DIMA has long advocated for the creators, owners, and distributors of music to provide accurate and timely metadata on all music released and distributed to streaming services,” the association’s CEO Graham Davies said in a statement.

In April, Spotify launched a “Verified by Spotify” label to signal that users can “trust the authenticity” of an artist, and last year the company announced new efforts to support AI disclosure and combat impersonation.