A coalition of nearly a dozen of the biggest record companies in the music business — including the “big three” of Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group — are calling for global music charts to adopt policies that would disqualify many AI slop tracks from consideration.
The companies are calling on the chart companies to introduce new rules that would only allow AI-generated songs to be included if the use of AI is properly authorized and lawful, if the track was substantially human made and if it doesn’t raise concerns of streaming fraud or chart manipulation.
Those stipulations don’t outright disqualify all AI songs — a primarily human created song that lawfully uses AI as a supplemental tool is still allowed — but they’d certainly limit eligibility considerably. The biggest AI music generation platforms still face lawsuits over allegations of mass copyright infringement to train their models, and much of the AI music uploaded to streaming services is linked to streaming fraud.
“Tracks created using generative AI systems have been appearing on streaming services, however many of these have been developed with tools that have been trained on artists’ music without authorisation,” the companies said in a release on Wednesday. “These tracks are also commonly associated with streaming fraud. To tackle this, record companies are driving the development and licensing of AI music services that respect the rights of music creators. Through the implementation of these principles, human creators will have further assurance that tracks manufactured via unauthorised algorithms unjustly built upon their work – or fraudulently promoted – will not be celebrated by industry charts.”
While AI-generated songs haven’t overwhelmed the charts yet, there have been several notable cases. The AI country act Breaking Rust, for example, garnered major headlines last year after managing to make it on the country digital sales chart. Still, it should be said that placements on digital sales charts certainly don’t reflect mass consumption, as it only takes a thousand-or-so sales to chart there given that digital downloads have become far less common in the streaming era.
AI remains among the most pressing issues in the music industry, as the record companies have announced partnerships with the likes of Nvidia, Spotify and Stability AI to develop AI music tools, while also suing when the AI companies cross the line. All three of the major labels sued AI music generators Suno and Udio back in 2024, though UMG settled with Udio last year, while WMG settled with both Suno and Udio. Sony is yet to carve out a deal with either company.
The labels’ call comes just weeks after the RIAA and IFPI announced a push for streaming services to more explicitly label AI-generated content on their platforms, suggesting a strategy similar to the current labeling of explicit music on streamers, with AI icons next to a song.
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