Billboard Affirms Commitment to Transparency Around AI-Generated Music

On Tuesday (Aug. 25), Billboard announced its commitment to creating greater transparency around the use of artificial intelligence in music, including identifying songs on its charts and in its editorial coverage that use AI.

Billboard remains committed to accurately reflecting how audiences around the world consume music. For nearly a century, the Billboard charts have served as the industry’s most trusted record of the music fans embrace, evolving alongside new forms of artistic expression and technological innovation.

A combination of committed content creator/artist transparency and reliable tools to identify AI-generated music is essential to making well-informed decisions when categorizing AI-generated content. This shared commitment to responsibly reporting AI use is critical to the wider industry and will help ensure that the charts continue to reflect music consumption accurately and responsibly.

“Ensuring transparency around AI-generated music requires collaboration across the entire industry from artists and labels to DSPs, technology companies and industry organizations,” said Silvio Pietroluongo, EVP, Charts & Data Partnerships, Billboard. “We’re encouraged by the development of new identification tools and will continue testing and leveraging solutions across the ecosystem, to ensure our charts continue to accurately and responsibly reflect music consumption.”

“Billboard will always champion artists, celebrate music and promote editorial transparency,” said Leila Cobo, Co-Chief Content Officer, Billboard. “In this moment of evolution, it is critical that creators leveraging AI identify use so that we can be transparent and accurate in our editorial coverage and in our charts.”

Billboard remains dedicated to an open, collaborative dialogue with industry stakeholders, including artist communities, label groups, DSPs, AI music companies and organizations advancing this conversation and promoting transparency in AI tagging, as the industry works diligently to navigate these complexities and develop solutions.

“Although the ways in which AI informs and interacts with modern music are changing on a daily basis, we are committed to working alongside all industry parties allowing us to make clear, well-informed decisions across our platforms, now and moving forward,” said Jason Lipshutz, Co-Chief Content Officer, Billboard.

Billboard is optimistic about the development of new and first-to-market tools and initiatives that will tag and identify AI-created songs — including the recent announcement from Luminate regarding its proprietary AI detection program — as well as commitments by industry bodies and DSPs to identify and tag AI-generated songs across various platforms. Billboard will continue to collaborate broadly across the industry, testing available tools, leveraging its editorial and data analytics expertise, and developing best practices to achieve these goals.