AI Labeling: Two New Labels Are Meant to Tell You Whether AI Sang on Your Favorite Track
IFPI, RIAA, and Others Agree on Two Labels, but the Big Streaming Platforms Are Still Missing
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AI Labeling: Two New Labels Are Meant to Tell You Whether AI Sang on Your Favorite Track · Source: BVMI
The world’s biggest music trade organizations have finally agreed on a unified system for AI labeling AI-generated music. IFPI, RIAA, A2IM, WIN, IMPALA, the Grammys, SAG-AFTRA, and the Human Artistry Campaign jointly introduced two labels: “AI-Generated” and “AI-Assisted.” The BVMI is backing the initiative in Germany too. Sounds like a step in the right direction at first, but it raises a few questions along the way.
AI Labeling Is Coming Soon – The Bottom Line
- IFPI, RIAA, A2IM, WIN, IMPALA, the Grammys, SAG-AFTRA, and the Human Artistry Campaign introduced a joint labeling system for AI music
- Two labels: “AI-Generated” (AI creates the core creative content, like lead vocals or key instruments) and “AI-Assisted” (humans stay the creative core, AI helps in specific spots)
- Lyrics and compositions are explicitly not covered, even a fully AI-composed track stays unlabeled if humans sing and play it
- The labels are meant to eventually show up on cover artwork too, similar to “Explicit Lyrics” stickers
- Streaming leaders like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon aren’t part of the initiative yet
- Deezer reported that 44 percent of newly uploaded tracks in April were AI-generated, nearly four times what it was a year earlier
AI Labeling for Music: Everything on the New Label System From IFPI, RIAA, and BVMI
Two Labels, One Goal: AI Labeling Finally Brings Clarity for Listeners
The concept splits into two categories. “AI-Generated” applies whenever generative AI creates the lead vocal or key instrumental parts, a fully prompt-generated song isn’t actually required to trigger it. “AI-Assisted” means the recording is substantially human-made, with humans performing the lead vocal and primary instruments, but AI stepped in for some expressive elements along the way.
According to BVMI chairman Florian Drücke, 83 percent of fans want exactly this kind of clarity. Deezer reported in April that AI-generated tracks already made up 44 percent of all newly uploaded music, nearly four times what it was the year before. 43 percent of users switching over from other services already had AI songs sitting in their playlists, according to Deezer. Apple Music, for its part, said more than a third of tracks uploaded to its platform are “100% AI.” The numbers make it pretty clear AI music is already part of daily life for a huge chunk of streaming listeners.
What the AI Labeling System Deliberately Leaves Out
This is where the criticism starts for me. The new labels apply exclusively to the use of generative AI in the sound recording itself. Lyrics, compositions, music videos, and cover artwork sit outside the system entirely, and those areas have their own trade organizations, ones that don’t even get a mention in the music industry’s announcements.
There’s an obvious gap around lyrics: a song’s entire text could come straight from an AI, and as long as a human sings it, that wouldn’t even trigger the “AI-Generated” label according to the BVMI. Even more surprising is how compositions get handled. A piece of music could be entirely invented by an AI model and still wouldn’t need a label, as long as humans sing and play it. Common AI tools generate sheet music without much trouble these days, so a track can come entirely out of a machine despite a fully human performance, no label required. For an initiative whose whole point is transparency, that gap around lyrics and composition is genuinely hard to justify.
At least the labeling concept is supposed to “evolve alongside changes in technology and requirements,” per the BVMI. In practice, the labels are meant to show up not just as metadata, but directly on cover artwork too, similar to the “Explicit Lyrics” stickers familiar from the US.
Voluntary Participation Is the Biggest Weak Spot in AI Labeling
Here’s the second problem: the labeling is entirely voluntary, no requirement exists for labels, distributors, or artists to use it. Making things worse, the biggest streaming platforms, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon, aren’t part of the initiative at all right now. The organization responsible for those platforms would be the Digital Media Association (DMA), which, per the Wall Street Journal, said it plans to “monitor” the effort for now and mainly wants more reliable metadata that stays intact all the way from creator to fan.
Spotify already took its own steps here, introducing a label for verified, real artists to push back against AI slop. But these new labels are meant to be applied by the established music companies themselves, not the platforms. Without the major streaming services on board, it’s genuinely unclear how consistently this labeling ends up reaching listeners in practice.
Also worth noting: RIAA and the other organizations involved explicitly aren’t speaking out against AI use in music at all, they say they want to keep giving artists the option to use the technology. The overall message stays transparency instead of prohibition, which makes the gap around lyrics and composition even harder to explain away.
Bottom Line on AI Labeling for Music
A unified labeling system for AI music is genuinely overdue, and getting this many different trade organizations worldwide to agree on a shared concept, from the majors to independents at IMPALA and WIN to SAG-AFTRA and the Grammys, is impressive on its own.
Still, the system stays incomplete in some crucial spots: no coverage for lyrics or composition, no requirement to actually use it, and the biggest streaming platforms are missing entirely for now. Real transparency is going to need more than two voluntary labels without Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon at the table. We’ll keep tracking this one for you, especially since this affects all of us on the team too. What’s your take on this? Is this enough, or does more need to happen here? Drop your take (constructively, please) in the comments.
More Information on AI Labeling
- BVMI: Clarity for Music Fans – Industry Presents Concept for Unified Labeling of AI-Generated Music
- RIAA: Music Community Introduces New Labeling Program
- Wall Street Journal: Record Companies Push to Label AI Songs on Streaming Platforms
- More about AI
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One response to “AI Labeling: Two New Labels Are Meant to Tell You Whether AI Sang on Your Favorite Track”
Great initiative, although imperfect. That’s a start. It’s also much needed in other creative industries.