Apple Music Introduces New AI Transparency Tags

Apple Music has launched Transparency Tags, a system through which those delivering songs to the platform can tag in the metadata whether AI has been used in their creation.

How it works:

• Just as labels and distributors tag their releases with metadata around genres and credits, they will now be required to tag whether the content they’re submitting to Apple Music has been created using AI.

Areas of focus:

• As per Music Business Worldwide (MBW), the new system covers four creative elements: Artwork, Track, Composition, and Music Video.

• The Artwork tag, applied at the album level, indicates when AI has been used to create a significant portion of either static or animated visual artwork.

• The Track tag, which is available at track level only, signals when AI has contributed substantially to a sound recording.

• The Composition tag refers to AI-generated lyrics or what MBW calls “other compositional elements.”

• The Music Video tag is used for any visual content, whether included with albums or delivered independently.

• Distributors can begin tagging their content now, and will be required to do so when delivering new content in the future, as per MBW.

Honor system:

• While French streaming platform Deezer has developed AI detection technology it claims can automatically identify 100% AI-generated music from generative models including Suno and Udio, Apple’s system relies on distributors to declare AI content when delivering music.

• Deezer recently announced it is making its AI-detection technology available to the wider industry, with MBW stating that French collection society Sacem is among the first to trial the tool.

What they said:

• Apple Music, in a newsletter to industry partners: “Proper tagging of content is the first step in giving the music industry the data and tools needed to develop thoughtful policies around AI, and we believe labels and distributors must take an active role in reporting when the content they deliver is created using AI.”