Apple Music is pushing the music industry to police its own use of artificial intelligence, with vice president Oliver Schusser saying labels and distributors must be the ones to disclose how tracks are made. In an interview with Billboard's "On The Record", he argued that the responsibility sits with the companies delivering the music, not with Apple, as the platform rolls out a new metadata system designed to flag AI involvement.

The system, called "Transparency Tags", is intended to record where AI has been used across four parts of a release: the sound recording, the composition, the artwork and the music video. According to reports from MacRumors, SoundGuys and MusicRadar, the tags are being introduced as a voluntary disclosure tool for now, with Apple encouraging content providers to be open about how a song was created and to help establish industry-wide norms.

Apple’s approach appears to be deliberately administrative rather than punitive. Rather than relying on automated detection to scan every upload, the company is asking the parties closest to the recording process to provide the information themselves. Schusser said labels are best placed to know how a track was produced, and he stressed that Apple wants a searchable record of AI use without turning the platform into a policing operation.

The move also comes against a wider backdrop of concern over synthetic music and fraud on streaming services. Apple Insider reported that Schusser said more than a third of tracks delivered to Apple Music are now "100% AI", yet they account for less than 0.5% of listening, suggesting that generated music is arriving in volume but attracting little audience demand. Separately, DJ Mag reported that Apple Music demonetised two billion fraudulent streams in 2025, worth about $17 million in potential royalties, underscoring the platform's growing focus on integrity, disclosure and fair compensation.

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Source: Noah Wire Services