Deezer just rolled out the world’s first AI music tagging system. The platform will now label albums containing AI-generated tracks to fight streaming fraud.
About 18% of daily uploads—over 20,000 songs—are fully AI-made. Most don’t go viral but Deezer found around 70% of their streams are fake, aimed at gaming royalties.
AI-generated tracks get clear tags, won’t appear in editorial or algorithmic playlists, and suspicious streams won’t count towards payments. 
AI-only songs currently make up 0.5% of all streams but the trend is rapidly growing.
Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier said in a press release:
“We’ve detected a significant uptick in delivery of AI-generated music only in the past few months and we see no sign of it slowing down. It’s an industry-wide issue, and we are committed to leading the way in increasing transparency by helping music fans identify which albums include AI music,”
“AI is not inherently good or bad, but we believe a responsible and transparent approach is key to building trust with our users and the music industry,” he continued. “We are also clear in our commitment to safeguarding the rights of artists and songwriters at a time where copyright law is being put into question in favor of training AI models.”
Deezer applied for two patents late last year targeting “unique signatures” to spot synthetic versus authentic tracks.
This move comes amid reports that Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music are in talks to license their catalogs to AI startups Udio and Suno. Those startups face lawsuits over copyright violations, and licensing deals could settle those disputes.
