Apple Music’s new rules require labels to disclose AI in music releases

Apple Music’s new disclosure requirement reflects a growing effort across streaming platforms to bring clarity to AI-generated music.

AI-generated music is growing at an unprecedented rate, forcing streaming platforms to quickly establish new rules around transparency and ownership. Suno is a platform that allows anyone to create music using AI prompts, images, and videos. It also enables users to write lyrics and record audio. Suno recently reached 2 million paid subscribers and reported that nearly 100 million people have used the platform. In November 2025, Suno was valued at $2.45 billion. What was once considered an art form is now becoming accessible to anyone. Streaming services like Apple Music, Spotify, and Deezer are now working to protect the art of music-making while ensuring clarity remains at the forefront of the industry.

Recently, Apple Music announced it will now require labels and distributors to disclose AI use in a sound recording, composition, artwork, or music video on the platform, even if only a material portion of the content is created using AI tools. Material portions will receive a transparency tag. Album artwork, songs, music compositions (including lyrics), and music videos created with the assistance of AI will all receive this transparency tag.

Apple will leave it up to labels and distributors to determine what qualifies as AI-generated music or visuals, according to Music Business Worldwide.

Apple’s announcement said the transparency tags are the “first step in giving the music industry the data and tools needed to develop thoughtful policies around AI,” Music Business Worldwide reported.

Other streaming services have already started implementing guidelines around AI usage. In September 2025, Spotify announced it would remove tracks that impersonate another artist’s voice without their consent and include disclosure of AI usage in song credits. At the beginning of 2025, Deezer rolled out an AI detection tool designed to prevent fraudulent actors from stealing royalties from artists. Deezer recently also announced plans to sell its AI detection tool that supports transparency in music streaming.

Every industry is currently navigating how AI will impact and shape its future. We are living in a moment where laws and rules are forming around a technology that has never existed before.

These new policies represent a boundary meant to preserve artistic work while encouraging artists to continue creating independently. Will music listeners care? Will labels and artists be truthful? Only time will tell.

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Meredith Courtright

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