Source: 404 Media
Tidal is the first major streaming platform to explicitly refuse payouts for synthetic music, drawing a hard line that rival services have avoided despite similar pressure from artists. Streaming economics—already strained by how little artists earn per play—may now split into human-made and synthetic tiers, forcing labels and platforms to choose between protecting legacy artist income and accommodating the emerging AI music production industry. AI-native labels and competing platforms can capture that market while traditional music infrastructure hardens around human copyright.