Clear label: Yandex Music has confirmed plans to label AI tracks

The Yandex Music service will inform listeners about the use of artificial intelligence when creating tracks, Izvestia found out. Streaming is currently discussing the details with copyright holders and collecting data on tracks created using AI. But we are talking only about some form of labeling, and not about creating a special section with AI works. Izvestia found out how Russian musicians feel about such plans and where, in their opinion, the boundary between using technology and replacing live creativity should be.

Yandex Music's plans for AI labeling

Yandex Music intends to provide artists and copyright holders with the opportunity to inform listeners about the use of artificial intelligence in music creation. These plans were confirmed to Izvestia by the company.

— At the moment, we are at the stage of discussing with copyright holders and collecting data on what content was created using AI tools. How this information will be displayed in the service will depend on many factors, including the amount of data we receive from the copyright holders," Yandex Music said.

At the first stage, streaming considers this innovation as a tool for informing listeners, rather than as a way to separate all AI content into a separate category.

The reason for discussing the changes was, among other things, the law adopted in July to support the development of AI technologies in Russia. Its main provisions will enter into force on September 1, 2026, and the requirements for labeling AI content - from March 1, 2027.

The document separately takes into account the labeling of audio and visual content created using AI: a single warning form is not established, and its format and placement order are determined by an agreement between the user and the model supplier.

How do artists feel about labeling

There is an active discussion of the issue of AI labeling in the professional community.

August Septemberov, a blogger from Izhevsk, whose neurocover for the song "Gray Night" by the band "Tender May" with Kanye West's synthesized voice reached the first place in the Shazam world chart in April 2026, believes that labeling will primarily hit those who try to pass off what was created by a machine as the work of a real musician.

— I make such notes honestly and consider them fair. In my opinion, it would be bad if this content were completely banned, but this way people are given a choice. But it's quite fair to warn where AI is involved," he told Izvestia.

Alexander Artyomov, the founder of the meme-punk band Pivorak 9000, also uses neural networks in his work and recalls that the current controversies are consonant with the resistance to synthesizers and drum machines in the early 1980s.

— The legendary band Queen labeled their albums with the inscription "No synthesizers". Time has put everything in its place, and no one is seriously discussing the introduction of such labels right now. And it's only been 40 years. Neural networks are now just as much a tool in the hands of an artist as the first electric guitars, synthesizers, and autotune were in the past. Time will pass, and we will remember about these protests and markings only from the point of view of history," the artist said in an interview with Izvestia.

Ultimately, the main indicator of mastery for him is not the way music is produced, but the reaction of the audience.

For singer Zivert, the issue lies primarily in the field of copyright protection. She supports the idea of sharing such content and considers it an important signal for the industry. At the same time, the artist does not oppose the use of neural networks in the creative process.: In her opinion, they can be useful for creating demos and visual materials. The problem arises when the generated work is passed off as full-fledged human creativity.

— We support this initiative because it protects copyright and brings competition back to a healthy track. The listener finally has a transparent choice: listen to live sound or experiment with AI," the singer told Izvestia.

Bogdan Leonovich, producer of Zivert, adheres to a tougher position. He opposes a situation where fully generated songs end up on a par with the works of live performers. In his opinion, neuromusic needs separate charts and playlists so that the listener can choose which content is interesting to them. At the same time, Leonovich does not propose to abandon the technology itself: if the neural network helped to come up with a melody or find a musical idea, the next step, he believes, should be to search for a live performer.

How AI music is labeled abroad

Similar mechanisms are already appearing on foreign music platforms. So, starting in September 2026, Spotify will begin marking the profiles of those artists with the AI Persona mark, whose persona is completely or predominantly created with the help of AI. Such projects will not be included in personal and editorial recommendations by default. At the same time, Spotify emphasizes that the new system applies specifically to AI people, and not to all cases where neural networks are used to create music.

In June 2025, Deezer was the first major streaming service to launch a system for labeling fully generated music. The platform automatically detects such tracks and adds a corresponding mark to the albums. In addition, AI tracks are excluded from algorithmic recommendations. According to the company, in June 2026, they accounted for more than half of all new downloads — about 90 thousand songs per day.

The sign above: website owners have been freed from control over the labeling of AI content

The government has removed a controversial requirement from the draft law on the use of artificial intelligence.

The very idea of labeling does not necessarily mean the need to create separate "ghettos" for neurocontent. A separate section, unlike labeling, can create a sense of second-class content for the user and hit the authors who honestly disclose the use of AI.

— According to independent estimates, the share of tracks with signs of AI on Yandex Music already exceeds 36% of the catalog, and neuromusic clearly does not intend to linger in thematic collections: recently it has its place right on the main screen of the application, — Maxim Abramov, head of the Laboratory of Applied Artificial Intelligence of St. Petersburg FIT RAS, told Izvestia. — And, according to Deezer, tens of thousands of fully generated tracks are uploaded to the platform every day. With such volumes, it is more logical to work with the existing catalog structure: a mark on the content card plus a filter in the settings, similar to how today they label content with profanity.

Yandex Music has not yet planned to create a separate section for works created using neural networks. Instead, the service launched the editorial playlist "People of Art". It includes projects by authors who use neural networks as part of the creative process, for example, to find sounds, rhythmic solutions, and voice experiments.

And in the labeling dispute, a deeper question remains open: if traces of the use of a neural network are found in a work, can it be considered copyrighted?