Delivering on the promises of its AI charter, French music streaming service Qobuz has announced that it will now display a tag alerting users when music has been identified as AI-generated.
Furthering the company's “human-centred” ethos, content detected as AI-generated will also be excluded from editorial selections, such as ‘Our Selections’, ‘New Releases’, ‘Qobuzissimes’, ‘Albums of the Week’, Qobuz’s playlists and algorithmic recommendations.
The company says that this latest action plays a key role in keeping the amount of AI streams via Qobuz "down its currently impressively low figure of 0.38 per cent".
This figure is lower than on other streaming services, such as Deezer, which say AI-generated streams constitute between one and three per cent of music consumed on the platform.
According to Georges Fornay, Deputy CEO of Qobuz: “Today, the challenge is no longer just detecting AI-generated music but enabling listeners to identify it clearly. At Qobuz, this transparency – which is our hallmark – comes with a core conviction: musical discovery must remain guided by human choices. Everyone should be able to know what they are listening to and make informed choices.”
Other major streaming platforms such as Tidal, Deezer, and Spotify already label AI-generated tracks, while Apple Music has pledged to roll out a 'Made With AI' label later this year.
Qobuz's latest crackdown is principally aimed at fraudulent AI streams, "with no human involvement". Outright removal of tracks will be "reserved for fraud", continuing the company's “longstanding commitment to fair compensation for artists”.
When fraudulent practices are detected, affected streams will be excluded from reporting and royalty payments, and the affected content will be removed from the platform’s catalogue.
And there appears to be a strong link between fraud and AI music.
According to the company, 60 per cent of the tracks currently identified as AI- generated have been deemed fraudulent by its detection systems. Furthermore, four million tracks have already been removed from the search engine due to being AI-generated with no listening activity.
What do you think? Should it be up to listeners to decide whether they want to embrace AI?
Let us know in the comments.
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