Apple Music's AI-disclosure policy, explained (2026)

TL;DR

Apple Music does not ban AI music, but it requires distributors to tag any release where AI was used for vocals, lyrics, or full composition. Untagged AI tracks can be removed and the artist's distribution privileges revoked.

What Apple counts as 'AI-generated'

• The full instrumental was generated by an AI tool (Suno, Udio, MusicGen, Stable Audio, etc.)
• The vocal was synthesized or cloned by AI (ElevenLabs, Voicemod, etc.)
• Lyrics were primarily generated by an LLM
• The cover art was generated by AI (Midjourney, DALL·E, Stable Diffusion)

Simply using an AI mastering tool (LANDR, eMastered) does not count.

How disclosure works in practice

Apple consumes a DDEX 4.0 message from your distributor. The disclosure lives in two fields:

<TechnicalSoundRecordingDetails>
  <IsAIGenerated>true</IsAIGenerated>
</TechnicalSoundRecordingDetails>

DistributeMusic.ai sets this automatically when you check the AI-disclosure box (required for every AI release).

What happens if you don't disclose

1. First offense — release removed within 7 days, you get an email
2. Second offense — 30-day distribution suspension
3. Repeated offenses — permanent ban from Apple Music

Will AI tracks be discoverable?

Yes. Apple does not de-rank AI music in search, and editorial playlists still consider AI tracks (we've seen Suno tracks playlisted as recently as Q1 2026). The For You algorithm treats AI music identically to human-made music.

Bottom line

Disclose, ship, get paid. Distributors that hide AI usage are the ones in trouble — not the artists who play by the rules. Start a release →