Tidal AI Policy

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overview of Tidal’s AI Policy

  • Tidal will:
    • Accept AI-generated music.
    • Tag tracks it detects as wholly AI-generated with an “AI” badge.
    • Disallow monetization and direct sales for 100% AI-generated tracks.
    • Remove impersonations and obvious fraud, and may extend “substantially AI-generated” rules as detection improves.
  • Many commenters see this as a pragmatic middle ground: accept that AI exists, constrain abuse, and protect payouts for human-created work.
  • Others think merely allowing AI music is “another one bites the dust” and want outright bans or at least a global “hide AI” toggle.

Monetization, Incentives, and Platform Economics

  • Supporters: Turning off royalties for AI content removes the main incentive for spammy “AI slop” floods.
  • Critics:
    • Tidal still profits from streams of AI tracks while paying no royalties, creating a strong incentive to recommend AI music in playlists.
    • Some argue Tidal should then refuse AI uploads entirely, rather than keep the revenue.
  • Broader concern that streaming platforms will favor free-to-them AI tracks over human artists in algorithmic discovery.

Definitions, Detection, and Edge Cases

  • “AI-generated” is defined as works wholly or substantially made by generative AI with minimal human creative input, but what counts as “substantial” is unclear.
  • Edge cases: human lyrics + AI backing, AI vocals over human instrumentals, AI stems in otherwise human productions.
  • Detection is widely viewed as hard and error-prone, especially as AI improves and producers mix AI samples into conventional workflows.
  • Fear of false positives harming experimental electronic/spectral music and sample-heavy genres like EDM and hip hop.

Copyright and Legal Ambiguity

  • Some point to U.S. rulings that raw generative output lacks copyright and is effectively public domain.
  • Others note this varies by jurisdiction and may hinge on “skill and judgment” or level of human control.
  • Debate over whether a prompt-writer deserves royalties when the model was trained on others’ copyrighted works.

Curation, User Choice, and Value of AI Music

  • Many users report “AI slop” flooding discovery feeds on Tidal, Spotify, YouTube, and ebook platforms, and want better curation or hard filters for AI.
  • Some enjoy AI music as background or mood (“lofi beats,” synthwave, EDM, focus tracks) and see it as just another tool.
  • Others see AI-generated works—especially one-shot prompts—as hollow, derivative, or ethically tainted, arguing that music’s value comes from human experience and expression.