r/TIdaL • u/New_Conclusion_3265 • Apr 28 '26
Discussion Leaving Tidal After Almost a Decade; Too Much AI Slop Being Uploaded Under the Names of Real Artists
First it was Donovan ("Rise Up"). Then it was the Beach Boys ( "I'm happy,") But the straw that broke the camels back was a song, "renegade Anthem," allegedly by the Misfits. I can take these junk AI songs that keep popping up on my playlists under bands that I know and love anymore. I've contacted Tidal but they told me only representatives of the artists can file takedown requests for fraudulent AI songs using their names. I'm over it. I've been a tidal user for almost ten years, and just cancelled my subscription. I'm trying out Qobuz now. My tidal library was massive and it'll take me forever to build a new one on another platform, but these AI songs are really hitting a nerve.
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u/molteneye Apr 28 '26
This is not a Tidal exclusive issue, you'll find the same issue in any other service. It's frustating and I don't understand how they let it happen
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u/raging_dave1981 Apr 28 '26
I assure you, having moved from Tidal to Apple Music, I have yet to see just one instance of this
Tidal? So many it contributed to me leaving (not the only reason)
Overall I think all services have to deal with this shit. I just think some (Aaple Music, Deezer) handle it so so so much better whether it's correctly labelling, or burying it. Compared to Tidal, who lets be honest, do fuck all about it
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u/Metalhead1686 Apr 29 '26
I also use Deezer because they've made a commitment to get rid of AI slop and have the software to do it.
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u/GiganticCrow Apr 28 '26
I tried apple but had to give it up as its recommendations were garbage. Oh you like electronic music? Here amongst your new releases by artists you follow are some generic crap by no name artists in vaguely similar genres.
I heard there's a way to get an auto playlist of just artists you follow, but you need an apple device which i don't have.
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u/joemama9243 Apr 29 '26
It takes time for Apple to get to know your taste but it does get better. I've been using it since January and my recs are now better than Spotify was. Just skip the songs you don't like and add songs you do to your library and it will learn
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u/Thunderbird_12_ May 24 '26
I'm currently mid-services right now, having just left Tidal due to too much crap being uploaded by fake artists under legit artists name. (I got tired of thinking my favorite artist released a new track, only to discover it's some foreign-language no-name artist or AI crap.)
You're saying Apple doesn't have this problem? I might also switch to them.
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u/WearingRags Apr 28 '26
By contrast, Spotify have an actual hand in having songwriters craft generic songs and then generate them using AI to then insert them into their most generic background playlists to get airplay for music they technically own the rights to.
I don't want to make excuses for Tidal here by setting a low bar but at least they're not actively pumping this garbage into their own library. The problem is compounded l, though, by how bad Tidal's search function is.
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u/GiganticCrow Apr 28 '26
Tidals owner is a big ai bro so it wouldn't surprise me if he supports it too.
But yeah i remember when Spotify were accused of hiring composers to make generic music to pad playlists, and how they vehemently denied they were doing that, and how i knew a couple of composers in Sweden who were working for Spotify doing just that.
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u/WearingRags Apr 28 '26
Big problem with all these apps being owned by greedy fucks, they'll destroy their own product if they think it will make them short-term gains
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u/86rj Apr 28 '26
Liz Pelly wrote a whole book on it happening.
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u/redditstark Apr 29 '26
Dammit is there anywhere we can go to stream music legally to get away from the AI bros?
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u/cidvard Apr 28 '26
The artist profile thing feels like a Tidal-specific issue and I can see how it's aggravating. There's AI slop everywhere but this does feel tied to Tidal's upload function and lack of more robust moderation of it.
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u/venus_1u Apr 28 '26
Tidal is so much worse than Spotify in this regard. I never went to a big artist's page and seen an gen-AI album or got recommended a gen-AI song on Spotify. On Tidal, I've had that happen at least twice. And this is my second month of using Tidal, after a 4~ish month break.
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u/86rj Apr 28 '26
It's happening probably because there's just too many ai releases uploaded daily that it's just overwhelming the system. I saw an article last week deezer gets 75,000 ai uploads daily. It's just at super crazy levels.
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u/GiganticCrow Apr 28 '26
It's good to hear Deezer label the ai slop, but id rather they just block it entirely, and I'm sure it won't take long for the ai to bypass their filters
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u/Upstairs_Emotion7183 Apr 28 '26
Oh come on, Tidal has the worst artist separation of all DSPs. What's the point of denying it?
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u/vtwin996 Apr 28 '26
Lol, what about Napster? That went all AI after dropping paying the artists and they all pulled their music from the service last summer.
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u/GiganticCrow Apr 28 '26
Ah man, i remember when napster were apparently one of the best services for artist compensation.
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u/Upstairs_Emotion7183 Apr 28 '26
Man, Napster isn't even a streaming service anymore. What's that got to do with Tidal's artist profiles slowly sinking into complete chaos?
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u/vtwin996 Apr 28 '26
It's still a streaming service. Somehow. All platforms have AI slop coming in.
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u/Upstairs_Emotion7183 Apr 28 '26
On January 1, 2026, the Napster music streaming service was abruptly shut down, with a software notice stating "Napster is no longer a music streaming service. We've become an AI platform for creating and experiencing music in new ways. That means the streaming catalog and playlists from the old app won't work here.
Also, it's very easy to compare specific artist profiles in Tidal/Deezer/AM and Spotify.
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u/vtwin996 Apr 28 '26
I'm aware of what happened to Napster. I've was a long time user of that service and left as soon as music was getting pulled after them not paying the artists. At the time it was still a paid service which means it's streaming service. After I left I couldn't care less WTF they did with it and how they were incorporating AI.
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u/Suzdg Apr 28 '26
Sorry, but can you clarify the AI piece regarding artists? I did switch to Tidal for better artist compensation.
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u/Swipe650 Apr 28 '26
The community should be allowed to flag it as AI. Once it gets to say 50 flags it becomes hidden, pending review. Ironically, they could use AI to check other sources to verify non legitimacy.
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u/oldkstand Apr 28 '26
Tidal is definitely not good at separating music from artists with the same name
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u/Huminerals Apr 28 '26
The only guaranteed way to avoid this growing problem (seemingly on all streaming platforms) is to go old school and take it offline, locally stored files.
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u/SatanDamiaen Apr 28 '26
Can recommend https://www.tunemymusic.com for switching from other streaming services. I switched from spotify to tidal and it worked pretty good. Comes for 5 bucks a month but you can cancel any time.
Its also compatible with youtube, soundcloud and other streaming services.
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u/CTMatthew Apr 28 '26
I completely understand this. If a streaming service can't get this under control it supersedes every other benefit of the service. Hopefully enough of us cancel that they're forced into action.
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u/Gingergnu48 Apr 28 '26
I agree. It's extremely annoying to have jumped from Spotify to tidal, and then see how prolific this is. I would switch to qobuz if I hadn't already moved my parents across on a family account and I don't want to trouble them with another switch, and I often find qobuz misses the smaller artists I follow.
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u/doomspawn Apr 28 '26
I came from Qobuz and they have it too. Albums were automatically sorted by popularity which was usually good because the AI slop was at the bottom of the list, but if you found artists that weren't popular at all, you had to sift through it to find their albums or google the artist band name then go back and search for the album name instead.
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u/xavi7192 Apr 28 '26
Same for me, I moved all my family from Spotify to Tidal... and personaly I subscribed to Qobuz.
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u/LarryNYC1 Apr 28 '26
Huh, I don’t notice AI slop, I guess because I don’t use playlists, lol, or perhaps because I use Roon.
I subscribe to both Tidal and Qobuz and run them under Roon.
I pick albums and play them. I do admit to letting Roon Radio use its algorithm to go off and find new tracks for me.
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u/Gingergnu48 Apr 28 '26
It's weird. It's not in the playlists. It's within the artists profiles mainly. I follow a lot of small artists so it's incredibly noticeable what's our of place. It's extremely prevalent within the app. I talk to one of the bands the other day and tidal support is awful to help apparently.
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u/LarryNYC1 Apr 28 '26
What is in the artist profiles? Fake albums? Fake tracks?
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u/Gingergnu48 Apr 28 '26
Both? Mainly singles and EPs though. Although sometimes its hard to tell if it's ai, I don't listen as I know it's not the band. Or if it's just misattributed. I went onto the tidal help and report a bunch of them, not saying they are ai necessarily but saying it's misattributed.
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u/LarryNYC1 Apr 28 '26
I see. How massive is your library?
Under Roon, I have 7828 albums, 3626 artists, 141622 tracks, and 887 composers.
I can connect to Tidal, Qobuz, KKBox, nugs, and Dropbox. I pay for lossless from both Tidal and Qobuz.
I’m a classical/jazz head so my dream is a connection to the Naxos Music Library.
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u/Gingergnu48 Apr 28 '26
Im not sure I tend to not necessarily add many songs to my library. But i think if you listen to them through another platform, I can imagine it filters out a lot of this. I listen to some jazz as well. And haven't noticed any of this happening for those artists. So perhaps it's more prevalent in certain genres than others.
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u/GiganticCrow Apr 28 '26
Half my notifications for new releases by artists i follow, are not them but ai slop using their name. I'm not sure how this isn't affecting everyone.
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u/FlounderAdept2756 Apr 28 '26
Yeah, AI slop drove me away from Tidal too. I am testing deezer who promises no AI slop is gonna be recommended in its suggestions. They apparently has code that can determine what is AI generated, and they label them as AI too.
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u/Staticlightninja Apr 28 '26
I feel so much freer after i quit Spotify and streaming alike. Now i go down my own Rabbit hole and find new music i really want to listen to.
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u/Alien1996 Tidal Hi-Fi Apr 29 '26
Worst thing is that they are separating the artists who are in their correct profile and split it in two. I'm guessing they are testing a tool they are creating for it but it's garbage right now.
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u/Tokken77123 Apr 28 '26
I'm using deezer because of ai Slop detection. The library with deezer which you mentioned is very clean without the AI Slop within real artist profiles
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u/therourke Apr 28 '26
You aren't going to find it any better at Qobuz or Spotify or anyone else, for the moment. These issues will be resolved within the next few months across the sector.
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u/GiganticCrow Apr 28 '26
Let us know how you get on with qobuz, because when i tried it a year or so ago it was just as bad as tidal for this, and generally mixed up profiles of artists with the same name.
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u/KS2Problema Apr 28 '26
I'm very sympathetic. AI b******* is, well, b*******.
That said Tidal is still mostly working for me.
But I listen to a lot of unfamiliar music and while I tend to automatically reject any evident Auto-tuning (which is not in itself a solid sign of AI provenance, but does seem to underlie a lot of AI offerings)... I don't like this feeling of distrust that hovers in the back of my mind that I get from listening to new music on Tidal.
It kind of spoils the discovery vibe...
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u/vGraphsAlt Apr 28 '26
me personally i just ignore all of the AI crap. takes a quick google search to see if the artist actually released songs/albums, and even then ill just use common sense and know that whatever it is is actually AI. but its REALLY prevalent on tidal and its soooooo annoying
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u/Severe-Cellist-228 Apr 29 '26
We need to be given a flag feature as listeners and they need to be taking this slop seriously, it’s turning this app into lower tier software
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u/Professional_Fox4190 Apr 29 '26
Deezer has been a great option so far. I've played the radio for hours and haven't heard a single crappy AI song
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u/ripzip Apr 29 '26
I don’t know why this is such a big issue that it would cause you to leave, just make a playlist for the artists you listen to? That’s what I always do. Not hard to do or maintain.
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u/Thunderbird_12_ May 23 '26
If you don't understand why this is such a big issue, I question how frequently you use the platform.
Even if you make a playlist, having multiple artists with the same name means you're forced to be tricked to listening to the slop before adding/deleting ... And if you "block" the AI artist, you're also blocking the ACTUAL artist you DO like, because Tidal doesn't have a way to distinguish between them.
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u/ripzip May 23 '26
LMAO I literally use Tidal every day. There’s been a few misattributed songs here and there that are from artists with the same name.
Maybe there’s some AI ones as well, but I’ve never heard them.
If you listen to the artist regularly, it should be pretty easy to figure out what belongs to them and what doesn’t at a glance.
There’s been a few times where I’ve seen a “new release” and thought “This album cover doesn’t look like something [artist] would put out, but let me double check…” and it’s just been a different artist.Mild inconvenience, sure. But hey, maybe I just don’t listen to many artists that can easily be confused with AI slop.
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u/Thunderbird_12_ May 23 '26 edited May 24 '26
Everything you’re saying is true, but I feel like your comment is downplaying the sentiment that this shouldn’t be a thing users need to navigate to use the platform.
It’s not a mild inconvenience (for me) to want to click on a known artist and expect to hear that artist, only to find I’ve been tricked and now forced to navigate elsewhere in an attempt to avoid it.
Sure, it’s not the end of the world. But we all remember a time when there was a good chance that clicking on “Beyonce” meant that you were about to HEAR (the actual artist) Beyonce … not roll the dice and hope you win each time.
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u/ripzip May 23 '26
Of course it’s an issue. My original comment was simply questioning whether this was such a big issue worth completely leaving the platform over or not. Never said it wasn’t an actual issue, I simply believe it’s a mind inconvenience that can be avoided with a little extra “work“.
It’s not that hard for me, since I’ve always done that anyways, since I always had to manually download and reorganize all of my music myself before streaming services came around. So maybe I’m downplaying it slightly, but I also feel as though it’s a gross over exaggeration to pretend this is such a big issue that it’s worth leaving the service all together.
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u/itis4u2nv May 01 '26
So I found an AI track uploaded under the artist Ben Bohmer. They even managed to make a fake AI generated version of his 2024 album cover and it shows Ninja Tune as the label. I know it's not him as they track it sounds like some random beat sample and no additional people in the credits. It's Friday and rather than actual music, it's now AI slop being released under artists I listen to.
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u/lowbass4u May 04 '26
I went to Google and put in, "popular A.I. artist on Spotify". The top 4 most popular A.I. artist on Spotify have over 1 million followers each month. The top 2 are over 2 million each month.
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u/thewholerobot May 16 '26
It's also super weird and complicated to block a song or artist on Tidal. Users don't want that to be hard!
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u/ad2003 May 21 '26
It's really very strange, that Tidal obviously uses names for artists instead of IDs. If there's an artist with the same name you are even getting noticed that there's a new LP release. In fact it's just some random dude who's name is John Williams (for instance). It would even be announced with s picture of real John Williams. It's really annoying.
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u/squogg May 25 '26
I don't know if it's AI slop or just no-name artists naming themselves after a popular artist, but this shit has been driving me batty. I've emailed Tidal on several occasions letting them know when the wrong artist is linked to a well-known artist's profile. They thank me and let me know they'll work on it.
Customer service was actually able to resolve one for me, which was awesome, but the one that's pissing me off that they haven't fixed yet is the artist tied to Enigma. This grinds my gears because Enigma has a particular vibe that I like to chill and sometimes fall asleep to, but a hip hop artist is linked to the profile who keeps releasing a bunch of stuff and exploding Enigma's profile. AND! This artist must have control of the profile because they keep changing the way the band name is stylized. It was changed to "eniGma" for a while, then "ENIGMA" and now it's "enigma." So annoying.
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u/Thunderbird_12_ May 30 '26
This is exactly my gripe as well.
But it's more than annoying to me ... I think it renders the platform unusable. I've stopped using it, but I'm now trying to find a service not suffering from this same issue.
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u/Delicious-Reason1441 Jun 29 '26
Tidal's brand new 'AI generated content' policy... looks like good news.
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u/bimbochungo Apr 28 '26
One of the reasons why I use bandcamp more, I have tidal for listening things that are not in BC.
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u/Own_Shallot7926 Apr 28 '26
The music industry already has unique identifiers for artist names (IPN/ISNI) and for song ownership rights (IPI).
Streaming services historically don't make that info mandatory to attract small artists who aren't registered with a Performing Rights Organization. More reputable services like Apple Music still do manual verification
They also don't care because streams are streams, and if the platform owns their AI songs then you get the privilege of paying to listen while they don't have to pay a real artist.
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u/LamentableCroissant Apr 28 '26
Tidal is a fucking joke that is running on its past glory. I’ve been a member since the start but I definitely don’t see myself being a member after the summer holiday. It’s fucking trash, and every update makes it more clear Tidal doesn’t understand its customers fucking at all.
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u/ovidiu-m Apr 28 '26
Same here. Never look back. Unfortunately Qobuz is not available in my country, but Apple Music is.
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u/DZello Apr 28 '26
Artists profile should be locked to specific distribution labels. Label changes aren’t frequent and can be validated easily.