More than 50% of the music uploaded to Deezer is now created by AI.

      The tide has surpassed the halfway point. Deezer reported this week that AI-generated songs accounted for over 50% of its uploads in June, marking a first for the French streaming platform.

      From a trickle to a flood

      The growth has been rapid. Deezer began tracking this in January 2025, when AI songs constituted about 10% of daily uploads. By April, that number rose to 18%, and it reached 34% by November, then 44% in April 2026. It has now crossed the 50% threshold, amounting to roughly 90,000 tracks per day.

      Deezer is able to monitor this trend because it developed detection tools for machine-generated music. These tools identify tracks produced by AI generators like Suno and Udio. The platform tags these songs and excludes them from recommendations and playlists.

      The issue is fraud

      This volume is not necessarily indicative of listener demand. Deezer states that fully AI-generated tracks represent only 1% to 3% of actual streams. However, last year, 85% of those streams were deemed fraudulent.

      The method is straightforward. An individual creates thousands of low-quality songs, uploads them in bulk, and then employs bots and streaming farms to accumulate fake plays. Streamers share royalties from a common pool, so even a small fraction of a listen distributed over a vast number of tracks diverts funds from genuine artists. One man in the US admitted guilt in a case involving $8 million of such activity.

      Deezer takes a stand

      As a result, Deezer is removing content. It will delete AI tracks linked to fraudulent streams and any track that has not been played in the past six months. The platform does not pay royalties on streams it considers to be fake.

      “We are implementing further measures to protect the rights of artists and songwriters,” stated chief executive Alexis Lanternier, urging competitors to adopt shared standards. Even Mick Jagger has voiced that AI is acceptable as long as the music is truly original.

      One platform against a glacier

      Deezer is leading the way, and largely stands alone. Bandcamp has prohibited AI music, and Tidal has reduced its royalties. Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon have opted for a lighter approach, using labels and badges. Executives at Apple Music report that over a third of their uploads are now fully AI-generated.

      The stakes are significant. One study estimates that creators could lose as much as $4 billion a year to AI music fraud by 2028. The entities generating this influx are already facing legal challenges. Sony is pursuing a lawsuit against Udio, while Suno, which trained partly on Deezer’s own catalog, is facing claims from record labels. Whether the actions taken by one streaming service will serve as a barrier or merely a small dent in a larger issue remains to be seen.

      Published July 22, 2026 - 10:37 am UTC

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