An alarming study released this month indicates that in July 2026, 23% of the million or so songs that were released globally and tracked by Submit Hub were entirely AI generated! The tool used for the study was Submit Hub’s new SH Labs software. According to the article about the study that was printed by Mixmag.com, another 15% of the songs released in July were AI music that had been “processed or modified” by humans and then issued. One of the conclusions of the study according to Submit Hub is that “AI music has a disclosure problem”. Ya think?!!!
Submit Hub also claims in the article that roughly a third of the “music artists” that were deemed to have AI content in a song denied using AI when asked. That aligns with my own comments over a year ago for Blues Beats that AI music is largely deceptive. AI music generators claim to be releasing “fictional” music as would a fiction author using made up names and content. They also claim to be “writing” songs based on a brief description of the desired song content entered in AI music generation software. The produced AI song can even come with a made up band name that sounds real.
These attempts to deceive are largely driven by the desire to monetize AI music on major platforms like Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube that pay content providers for their streams. But, after an enormous wave of pressure from the music industry and websites like Blues Beats as well as music lovers around the world, the major platforms are taking steps to remove the misleading content providers and label AI Music for what it is. In fact, Apple Music claims to have de-platformed roughly 2 MILLLION content deceivers in the last year!
The staggering scale of the problem of AI music can not be over stated! And it will only continue to grow in my estimation. Because most AI music can not generally be copyrighted, large companies worldwide in search of royalty free “elevator music” for use in their businesses will be naturally attracted to the AI medium. Music singers, performers and even some music producers with little interest in musicianship (and the associated costs) are already gravitating to AI music and scolding anyone who does not follow as “old school”.
It is depressing but I see no way to reverse the momentum behind AI music. But what we can do now is stop the AI Music behemoth from being deceptive. Tools like Submit Hub’s SL Labs are leading the way. But all of us involved in the music industry as writers, DJs, musicians, and producers have to do our part and remain diligent in ferreting out the deception. At Blues Music Fan Radio, and in my own personal review of new music, we do our best to make sure AI music is not reaching our listeners. And it is much harder to do than you think! In fact, despite all my best efforts, I am ashamed to say that I had two AI albums on my regular “upcoming releases” post slip through earlier in the summer. The source was a streaming service advertising “upcoming blues albums” from “new artists”. Needless to say, they are no longer a source for me. Ya live and learn!!
AI is becoming a major tool in every industry I can think of. And there are numbers of people who claim to like AI music. I have no issue as long as the AI music behemoth stops the deception!! You wanna listen to AI music…knock yourself out…there are a growing number of sources. But AI music content generators (they are not creators…AI is generating music and lyrics off the backs of every songwriter and musician who’s creative work has been unknowingly AI trained!) must be honest about it or face the same type of laws against fraud and deceit applicable in numerous other industries.
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The featured image for this article is a real life photo of the author that was turned into a water color graphic using Google Pixel phone software.
