Deezer launches AI music detector for Spotify and Apple Music

Deezer has launched a free tool that scans playlists on Spotify, Apple Music and other platforms for AI-generated music. It addresses a problem that other streaming services prefer to ignore.

Deezer got there first

Two years ago, Deezer became the first major streaming platform to actively label AI music in its catalog. The company built its own detection technology and offered to license it to competitors, including Spotify and Apple Music. The offer apparently drew little interest. Instead, those platforms chose a simpler but less reliable route: asking artists to state themselves whether they used generative AI.

"No other company followed our lead, so we decided to make this available to everyone.

Now anyone can check whether their playlist contains synthetic music, regardless of the service," said Deezer CEO Alexis Lanternier.

How the detector works

Deezer's tool is simple to use. The user copies a link to any playlist from Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music or other platforms, pastes it into Deezer's online detector and gets the results. The system scans each track and checks whether Deezer's database has flagged the song as AI-generated.

The tool offers:

• Analysis of all tracks in a playlist within seconds
• The percentage of synthetic music in the playlist
• A detailed list of every track, marked as AI or not
• Filtering and sorting of results
• Updates as Deezer's database grows

The tool requires no sign-up or login. It is fully anonymous and free.

The problem with voluntary labeling

Spotify and Apple Music rely on artists' honesty. The system works only if the music's creators say they used AI. In practice, this rarely happens. Many authors don't disclose AI use, either because they are unaware of the requirement or because they hope for more streams in playlists. The result: the database of voluntary labels remains incomplete and unreliable.

Qobuz, a premium streaming service, tried to respond by launching its own detector. But the two platforms with the largest audiences still stand by voluntary labeling.

What this means

The music industry has not yet agreed on a standard for handling AI. Deezer offers a pragmatic solution: give listeners a tool to check for themselves. For musicians, this may be an incentive to label their work more honestly, or it may push AI detectors to keep improving, making them ever harder to fool.