No, AI music isn't taking over the world, as new Qobuz data proves in fact, barely anyone's listening to fake music

Date:
Thu, 24 Sep 2026 10:05:03 +0000

Description:
Qobuz is introducing AI-generated music tags so you can avoid the sonic slop, as it shares data on how prevalent fake music really is.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter French streaming service Qobuz is introducing tags to denote AI-slop music The firm also shared stats on how many people engage with this kind of audio Meanwhile, Spotify wants you to
use its new AI agent to listen to music When AI-made music is covered in the media, it's often painted to be an insidious success story; reports on
artists including Velvet Sundown, Breaking Rust and Enlly Blue invariably mention high stream numbers, along with huge estimated revenues. If that rightly frustrates you, know that the problem is occasionally with the reporting, and not with AI music being popular.

French streaming service Qobuz has never been backwards about coming forwards when tackling what Managing Director Dan Mackta refused to call music at all, when we spoke to him earlier in the year. And now, Qobuz has unveiled a feature which adds tags to music it detects was generated with AI. This goes further than Spotify's opt-in AI persona label , by highlighting real
artists' slop tracks. So expect to see it on Dr. Dre's new music , for example. This continues a run of anti-AI moves from streaming services such
as Qobuz, Deezer and Tidal, which have all identified sentiment to slop at being overwhelmingly negative. Highlights include Tidal giving no royalties
to AI music , and Deezer adding a filter to remove AI tracks . Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here:

The major outlier is Spotify, which has made small steps to combat AI music, but some steps backwards too. Recently, it teamed up with Meta's AI agent
Muse (no, not the Plug In Baby band, the chatbot that Meta kicked the band
off its social handles for). This partnership lets you... queue up music,
give voice commands to control your playlists, create playlists, and set up playing schedules. How did we cope before AI? Time to decide whether you want Muse (band), or Muse (Meta)? (Image credit: Spotify /Muse (Meta)) But perhaps the war against AI is all for naught? Because when unveiling its new AI tag system, Qobuz also shared some statistics on this kind of 'music' (word used lightly), which recontextualize the whole thing. You may like Let's be real: we're doomed but lets also try to hold it at bay: Qobuzs Dan Mackta on
musics big AI issue Deezer reports over half of new music uploads are AI-generated, and it's taking fresh action Tidal's new policy on AI-generated music is especially firm

Case in point: apparently only 0.38% of streams on Qobuz are from
AI-generated tracks. Yes, less than half a percent. For every 263 streams, only one comes from an AI track. If all the streams were represented by the population of the US, team AI would just about fill up Dallas.

There's more: over a third of all AI albums receive not a single listen. Not even from their creator. That's about four million songs, apparently, all of which are created just to take up space (and have been removed from Qobuz's library, so if you missed them, it's too late). Get daily insight,
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And if that wasn't enough, apparently 60% of all AI-music is demonetized by Qobuz's anti-fraud systems. This is based on the brand's AI Charter ,
unveiled in February, which detects AI music created solely for financial gain.

Qobuz is the original hi-res music service and as the connoisseurs' choice (devoid of many extra AI add-ons), one could argue that very few users are hitting up Qobuz for AI tracks, but still, the figures are telling. According to these Qobuz stats, you're largely all avoiding AI slop well done you,
take a pat on the back and sticking to real music made by real people. Well, mostly. Looking at you, 0.38%... The best wireless earbuds for all budgets
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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/audio/audio-streaming/no-ai-music-isnt-taking-over-t he-world-as-new-qobuz-data-proves-in-fact-barely-anyones-listening-to-fake-mus ic


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