YouTube Music starts labeling songs made primarily with AI

YouTube Music began rolling out labels on Oct. 14 to identify songs created primarily with generative artificial intelligence, placing a notice directly on the player page when AI played a significant role in a track. The company said the labels cover music in which a generative model created elements such as composition and vocals, and will later expand to the main YouTube app. Tapping the notice opens a menu with more information about a track. YouTube said the aim is to give listeners clearer information about the music they hear, while maintaining the labeling principles it already uses across its video service. The system combines disclosures from music partners with YouTube’s own detection tools. Partners can submit AI-use information through DDEX delivery standards, CSV templates or YouTube Studio, while YouTube may use other signals when no disclosure is supplied. Partner guidance separates releases into Fully Gen AI, Partly Gen AI and No Gen AI. A track generated by an AI music service from a text prompt is an example of Fully Gen AI; music in which AI made a bassline or string section before an artist added live vocals and instruments is Partly Gen AI. Pitch correction such as Auto-Tune and automated AI mastering fall into the No Gen AI category. The public rollout leaves some practical boundaries unclear. YouTube has not specified whether a Partly Gen AI designation will receive the player-page label, or whether the music labels will change recommendation treatment or royalty payments. Its existing video-disclosure policy says a label alone does not affect recommendations or monetization eligibility. The move extends YouTube’s broader AI-labeling work. The service has labeled creator-disclosed AI content since 2024, and in May began deploying internal signals that can automatically label videos involving significant photorealistic AI use when creators have not disclosed it. As covered in August, Apple Music said it would make its “Made With AI” labels visible to listeners later this year. Spotify has tested AI disclosures in song credits and said AI-persona artists would be excluded from editorial and algorithmic recommendations by default, while TIDAL has said it will not monetize AI-generated music. The scale of the issue has been particularly visible at Deezer, which said more than half of its daily uploads were AI-generated at a July peak, averaging about 90,000 tracks a day. Deezer announced on Oct. 13 that it plans to let users filter AI-generated tracks, albums and related artists from search results before the end of the year.