Big Three labels move to bar AI songs from the music charts

The News

The world's three largest record companies want songs made by artificial intelligence barred from the music charts entirely. Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group have proposed rules that would strip AI-made tracks of chart eligibility, The Verge reports.

The plan goes further than a separate labelling scheme floated by the RIAA, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), SAG-AFTRA and others, which would simply mark songs as AI-made or AI-assisted. The majors want exclusion, not disclosure: if a machine made it, it should not count.

The timing is pointed. A track called "Rubberz", credited to rapper Fenix Flexin and widely suspected of being machine-made, recently reached number 58 on the Billboard Hot 100. The artist has denied using AI but done little to settle the matter, and the episode has crystallised the industry's fear of synthetic songs reaching its most valuable real estate.

Why It Matters

Charts are not a vanity metric. A Hot 100 placing feeds sync licensing, playlist promotion, radio rotation, advertising rates and tour economics. Whoever writes the eligibility rules controls a large slice of the money that reaches artists and rights holders, which is why the majors want a hard commercial boundary drawn before machine-made tracks become routine.

There is precedent for using the charts as a gate. When Billboard reweighted its methodology in 2018 to favour paid-subscription streams over free plays, it reshaped which songs could realistically top the list. The same instinct is now aimed at synthetic music. The subtext is that the majors no longer believe labelling is enough - they think the only durable defence is to deny AI songs the visibility that turns a track into a hit.

Indian Angle

For India, the fastest-growing music market by listeners, this is more than a Western turf war. The domestic catalogue is dominated by a few powerful rights holders - T-Series, Saregama, Sony Music India and Universal Music India - whose libraries flow through JioSaavn, Spotify, YouTube Music and Gaana. Because the same majors sit on both sides of the ocean, any global chart-eligibility norm they establish will reach Indian repertoire too.

The sharper issue at home is voice. AI covers mimicking late playback legends such as Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi have already spread across Indian YouTube. India's emerging answer is personality rights: the Delhi High Court granted protective injunctions to Amitabh Bachchan in 2022 and Anil Kapoor in 2023, covering unauthorised use of voice and likeness. For MeitY, weighing deepfake rules, the labels' move is a signal that even private players think tagging synthetic content is not enough - controlling access is where the leverage sits.

FAQ

What exactly are the major labels proposing?

Universal, Sony and Warner want AI-made songs ruled ineligible for the music charts, rather than merely labelled. The goal is to deny synthetic tracks the chart visibility that helps convert a release into a commercial hit.

How is this different from the RIAA and IFPI plan?

That earlier proposal focuses on disclosure - standard labels marking songs as AI-made or AI-assisted while leaving them on sale. The majors' plan seeks outright exclusion from chart eligibility, a considerably harder line.

Does India have an equivalent rule?

India has no chart with Billboard's authority, but the same majors and the IFPI-affiliated Indian Music Industry shape local norms. A global eligibility standard would therefore reach Indian streaming and repertoire indirectly.

What about AI clones of Indian singers?

Indian courts have begun protecting artists through personality rights, with injunctions granted to Amitabh Bachchan in 2022 and Anil Kapoor in 2023, covering unauthorised use of voice and likeness - the same concern driving the majors' proposal.

This story was reported by The Verge. Read the full original coverage at The Verge.