Why We’re Taking a Human‑First Stand on AI‑Generated Music

At its heart, music is about human expression. It connects us, shapes us, and deepens our sense of the world. As fans, it enriches our lives on a daily basis; as artists, it showcases what we’re capable of creating. Simply put, music makes us more human.

When we founded Qobuz in 2007, we made a promise to honor the artists, voices, stories, and hard work behind the songs you love. Today, we remain committed to keeping music human as we encounter new challenges.

Music is in the midst of a watershed moment with an unprecedented number of AI-generated tracks being created and uploaded to streaming platforms. AI tools can generate hundreds of tracks in minutes from simple prompts. What once required experimentation, risk, creativity, and human intent, not to mention years of training and practice, is now being simulated in seconds. 

One streaming service reports that over 50,000 fully AI-generated tracks are uploaded each day, which equates to approximately 34% of new uploads(1). At this rate, over 18 million AI-generated tracks per year flood the music streaming ecosystem, taking away from the hard-working people who have devoted their lives to writing, playing, and recording original music.

When music is generated by machines at such a scale, it becomes sound without context, noise without soul. 

Why Does This Matter?

For artists: When machines replace humans, the real stories behind music are lost and musicians’ livelihoods are jeopardized. Research warns that by 2028, AI-generated music could account for 20% of streaming revenue and even 60% of catalogue revenue in some segments(2). This shift places a direct threat on real creators’ income streams, making it even more difficult for artists to earn a living through their work.

For listeners: When thousands of AI tracks flood streaming platforms daily, music discovery becomes noisy and polluted. Finding captivating music becomes harder and trust in recommendations erodes. Exploration turns into endless scrolling, human artists become harder to find, and the craving for real human connection grows.

For the music industry: AI-generated content leads to significant hurdles across the industry as a whole. Streaming fraud increases, listening data becomes distorted and unreliable; trust is compromised across the entire value chain with serious implications for labels, distributors, streaming services, and rightsholders.

What We Believe

Since 2007, Qobuz has been built on one conviction: people should be free to discover and experience high quality music in all its authenticity. 

The digital revolution already transformed the listening experience in terms of music quality, access to music, and artist compensation. Qobuz has always chosen and stayed true to a unique path: human-curation, original editorial, and a transparent compensation approach. 

There are times and instances where AI can serve human creativity – for example as a tool for demoing, mixing, mastering, and even composition. But when AI replaces the human creator entirely, and disrupts the industry at scale, it clashes with our ethos. We remain devoted to keeping the music ecosystem authentic and human. 

Our Human-First Approach

AI technology is evolving rapidly and detection is imperfect. We are realistic about the challenges and limitations that exist, while remaining committed to doing our part.

• Our editorial and human-curation will remain 100% human. Every Qobuzissime, Album of the Week, playlist, article, and review comes from our team of music experts. This will not change.

• Our recommendations highlight human artists. The Discover page features recommendations sourced exclusively from curated data, either through human editorial curation or curated metadata from trusted partners. These sources filter out AI-generated tracks, ensuring human artists’ visibility and fair compensation..

• When we identify fraudulent streams, we exclude them from reporting and royalty statements.

• We are in the process of developing detection and monitoring systems to identify AI-generated content and fraudulent streaming patterns. We are collaborating with industry partners to build sustainable and effective solutions together. 

Industry-wide standards for AI labeling, shared detection technologies, and coordinated policies are essential to protecting human-first initiatives. This is a challenge for all members of the music community, and we are actively taking part in the response.

Our Commitment

Our aim is to protect listeners’ access to human-crafted music and the artists who create it. By prioritizing human curation over algorithms designed to generate content at scale, and filtering out AI content as much as possible, art, creativity, and human connection prevails.

We’ve formalized this position in our AI Charter, which details our principles, red lines, ongoing commitments, and challenges we’re continuing to work through.

Read the full charter here: Qobuz AI Charter

What You Can Do

During this volatile time in the music industry, it’s important to consider what kind of music ecosystem we want to support collectively.

If our position resonates with you:

Join the conversation on Qobuz Club, an online community where music lovers talk openly about what they listen to, the broader music landscape, and how technology is reshaping how we connect to music and each other. 

Experience Qobuz. If you’re new to the platform, explore what music discovery looks like when it’s built around human curation, original articles, and respect for artists. Start your free 30-day trial and discover the Qobuz Download Store. 

(1) Deezer Newsroom

(2) CISAC