Could a new subscription tier help listeners separate AI music from real artists?
As generative AI floods streaming and social media platforms, could a new paid tier be the key to separating human-made content from AI content?
The rise of AI-generated music: what happens next?
We’re living in the AI era, and that reality is becoming impossible to ignore across every corner of the music industry. This week alone, we saw AI-generated songs popping up on the profiles of dead artists on streaming services. It’s just the latest in a series of unsettling developments. From streaming fraud to fake artist profiles, generative AI is shifting how content is created, distributed, and consumed. Ultimately, these developments only further spark conversations around the interaction between AI, real artists, and streaming platforms.
Earlier this year, Deezer revealed that a staggering 10% of new music uploaded every day is AI-generated and presumably, that figure would have only increased since then. In response, Deezer introduced automatic tags that detect and label fully AI-generated tracks. However, that doesn’t necessarily solve the bigger issue at play.
The problem with AI content
At this point, AI is inevitable and it’s here to stay. Luminate’s 2025 Midyear Music Report recently revealed that 44% of listeners are uncomfortable with AI creating entirely new songs. However, its existence isn’t necessarily the sole issue. It’s also about what happens when the sheer volume of AI content starts to impact the quality of social media platforms and streaming services alike.
The focus here is on AI slop- a term used to describe the low-effort, low-quality content pumped out en masse to game the system and quickly gain revenue.
It creates a lose-lose situation. Listeners become frustrated as they don’t want to be constantly inundated with AI-generated tracks. Advertisers lose confidence in the value of their placements on these platforms. Meanwhile, platforms risk damaging the user-experience they’ve spent years perfecting.
At least, that’s the argument from a recent MIDiA Research blog post. While their focus was on YouTube Shorts and their integration of AI video generators like Veo 2 and Veo 3, the same principle applies to music. As tools make it easier for anyone to create, more people jump in that often prioritize volume over quality. The result? A flood of filler content that makes it harder for the quality to shine through.
What does this mean for music?
In the music industry, AI-music generators like Suno are making it easier for artists to generate content. Just look at the recent emergence of The Velvet Sundown who are an AI-band already racking up millions of streams. With the music industry calling for stricter policing of AI music on streaming services, their success raises real questions: How do we protect real artists? How do we ensure that quality music doesn’t get buried under an avalanche of AI content.
These platforms of course need new artists and new creators, but it also needs to keep listeners, users, and advertisers happy by offering a quality service. While Deezer’s tagging has taken steps to address this, tagging alone doesn’t give listeners any control over what they hear. That’s where MIDiA’s idea comes in.
Could a new subscription tier be the answer?
MIDiA proposes a fresh approach: separate human and AI content into different tiers. Again, their article focuses on social media platforms, but it could easily apply to streaming services too.
The suggestion? A subscription tier that lets users opt out of generative AI content altogether. It wouldn’t eliminate AI from platforms entirely, but it would give listeners more choice. Keep higher-quality, and mainly human-made content in one paid tier, and a mix of content in the existing free tier. Effectively, the current free tiers would remain the same, blending everything together as they do now.
It’s a way for streaming platforms and social media services to preserve quality and give users a say in the type of content they want to engage with.
Is it realistic?
There are hurdles, of course. While the idea seems reasonable in principle, questions remain over whether it would work. Will users pay extra to avoid AI? Will they be annoyed at losing a sense of control in free tiers? Could it confuse the already messy world of subscription models?
However, platforms like YouTube could perhaps just add it to their existing subscription tiers. Meanwhile, Spotify and other music streaming services could introduce it into their upcoming super-premium offerings when/ if they ever launch.
Maybe it could work. Otherwise, the potential alternative of letting platforms be swamped with AI-generated filler content might be worse. If quality continues to decline and users tune out, the long-term risk is much greater.
Final thoughts
As the conversation continues around AI in content creation, the industry faces some big decisions. Either we accept the flood of AI content as the new normal, or platforms take steps to empower users with better tools and more control.
MIDiA’s idea might not be the perfect solution, but it certainly offers an interesting proposition. For example, we haven’t even tackled the issue of copyright infringement whereby AI companies are using other’s work to train their models without permission or compensation.
Still, if streaming platforms want to keep listeners, artists, and advertisers happy, offering more control over AI content could be a smart place to start.