So now you officially eat: The largest music associations in the world – RIAA, IFPI, in Germany the BVMI – have agreed on a labeling system for AI music. There should be two labels: “AI generated” and “AI-powered”. Sounds like a step in the right direction. But I'll tell you straight away: It's half-heartedness with an announcement, and I'll explain to you why

What's in the new system??

According to heise.de, a track is already considered “AI-generated”, when the lead vocals or central instrumental parts were generated via prompt. So you don't have to chase the entire song through an AI, for the label to take effect – that’s enough, when the main voice or central instrument comes out of the machine.

“AI-powered” against that is called: The recording essentially comes from real people, Vocals and main instruments were recorded by musicians, but somewhere in the process AI was used for individual elements of expression - perhaps a bit of mastering assistance, maybe an AI-generated line of text here and there.

And now comes the point, that really pisses me off: Lyrics and compositions are completely excluded. In plain language, this means that a song can be different in terms of lyrics and composition 100 percent come from AI. As long as someone sings it and plays real instruments on it, There is no need for a label. Not even “AI generated”. The Federal Association of the Music Industry says itself, that song lyrics “are not currently covered by the system” become. The same applies to compositions.

You notice the gap, or? You can present yourself as an artist, take a completely AI-written text, put an AI melody on it, sing the whole thing yourself - and from the outside it looks like it was 100 percent handmade. For me as someone, which has been for real for years, unadulterated hip-hop culture stands, This is exactly the kind of label fraud, which I always warned about.

Why now??

The pressure does not come from pure idealism on the part of the industry, but from bare numbers. Deezer reported in April, that 44 Percent of newly uploaded tracks were completely AI-generated - almost four times as much as the year before. This is no longer a niche phenomenon, that's a tidal wave. Streaming catalogs are filled with machine-produced mass-produced goods, namely from people, who are only interested in the cents per stream. Clear, that at some point the established players will have to react, if only to save their own system from collapse.

Interesting about it: The big streaming giants like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and Amazon are not yet part of this initiative. The associations have therefore reached an agreement among themselves, but the platforms, where the music ends up, do not automatically follow suit at first. Deezer is actually the furthest ahead - they now automatically label completely AI-generated titles and even remove them from the recommendations. Spotify and Apple Music, on the other hand, rely more on self-disclosure from artists and distributors. And we all know, how reliable voluntary self-disclosure is, when money is involved.

The EU AI Act is serious

Which makes the whole thing even worse: From then on 2. August 2026 With the EU AI Act, a real transparency obligation applies 50. AI system providers must then mark synthetic output as AI-generated in a machine-readable way. A visible AI label is under discussion. So this is no longer a purely industry voluntary commitment, but becomes law. And that's exactly what we need - not just nice voluntary stickers, but binding rules, which the major platforms also have to adhere to.

My opinion as a label operator

I do everything here myself, one Track, every line, every recording. FLEX BARKER MUSIC RECORDS stands for real craftsmanship, for people, who sweat in the studio and not for prompts, which throw out a half-baked track in seconds. For me everything is 100 percent human – text, Song, Life, instruments. That's exactly why I think it's important, that labels like “AI generated” Don't just start with vocals and instruments, but should also apply to text and composition. Everything else is cosmetic.

For us independent artists, who still produce by hand, Labeling like this is actually a huge opportunity. Once listeners can recognize it reliably, what is human and what is machine, then handmade things can position themselves as that again, what they are: something special. According to BVMI boss Florian Drücke, by the way 83 Percent of fans have exactly this clarity. So the demand is there. Now the associations just need to have the courage, to close the gaps in text and composition, and the streaming giants have to follow suit, instead of staying out of it.

Until then I'll stick with it: For me the text comes from my head, the voice from the throat, and the beat from real speakers. No prompt, no machine, no label fraud.

Those: heise online, “Music industry adopts tiered labeling of AI content”, 11. July 2026