AI Music Criticism: 97% of Britons Cannot Tell Anymore

How widespread AI music already is

1. 44% of all new Deezer uploads are AI

By spring 2026, almost every second song newly uploaded to the streaming service Deezer was fully AI-generated. Just over a year earlier the share was still in the low double digits.¹

2. About 75,000 AI tracks every day

Deezer alone now receives roughly 75,000 fully synthetic tracks per day, many multiples of what human artists upload.²

3. From 10,000 to 75,000 daily uploads in a year

Daily AI uploads to Deezer climbed from about 10,000 in January 2025 to 30,000 by September, 50,000 by November, 60,000 by January 2026 and around 75,000 by April 2026. The pace is staggering.³

4. Spotify pulled 75 million spammy tracks in one year

Inside a single 12-month window, Spotify removed more than 75 million tracks it deemed spam, much of it AI-generated mass uploads designed to game royalty payouts.⁴

5. Up to 85% of AI streams are fraudulent

Deezer reports that the large majority of plays on AI tracks are manipulated, typically to siphon off royalties. Those streams are excluded from payout pools.⁵

6. 100 million people have used Suno

The Cambridge, Massachusetts startup Suno says more than 100 million users have now created music with its tool, with around 10 million using it actively.⁶

7. A Spotify catalogue every two weeks

According to an investor pitch deck, Suno generates roughly as much music every two weeks as Spotify’s entire human-made catalogue contains.⁷

8. 2 million paid subscribers, $300M ARR

By February 2026, Suno disclosed 2 million paid subscribers and about $300 million in annual recurring revenue, up from $200 million only three months earlier.⁸

What Britons think of AI music

9. 97% cannot hear the difference

In a Deezer and Ipsos study of 9,000 people across eight countries including the United Kingdom, 97% could not reliably identify whether a track was made by a human or by AI.⁹

The same question comes up wherever words are meant to sound personal. A eulogy is now often drafted with AI as well, and what people notice is mainly whether the story behind it is true.

10. 81.5% of UK fans want AI music clearly labelled

A BPI and AudienceNet survey of 1,750 British music consumers for the All About The Music 2025 yearbook found 81.5% agreed that music generated solely by AI should be clearly labelled, while 72.7% said AI systems should publish a full list of the music they have ingested for training.¹⁰

11. 78.5% reject AI training without artist permission

The same BPI survey found 78.5% of UK respondents agreed an artist’s music or vocals should not be ingested or used by AI without permission from the artist or their label, and 80.1% said human-made music is more valuable to them than music generated by AI.¹¹

12. 66% of UK creators say AI threatens their careers

UK Music’s This Is Music 2025 report polled artists, performers, songwriters and producers across Britain. 66% agreed that AI poses a threat to their career as a creator, with only 13% disagreeing.¹²

The criticism: silent albums, lawsuits and front pages

13. 1,000+ UK musicians released a silent protest album

On 25 February 2025, more than 1,000 British musicians released "Is This What We Want?", a 47-minute album of empty studios and silence. Kate Bush, Damon Albarn, Annie Lennox, Hans Zimmer, Imogen Heap, The Clash, Pet Shop Boys, Tori Amos, Max Richter and Yusuf/Cat Stevens are among the co-writers. All profits go to the charity Help Musicians.¹³

14. The protest album reached number 38 on the UK Downloads Chart

"Is This What We Want?" debuted at number 38 on the UK Albums Downloads Chart. The 12 track titles strung together spell out the message "The British Government must not legalise music theft to benefit AI companies".¹⁴

15. Only 3% of consultation responses backed the opt-out plan

The UK Government’s December 2024 copyright and AI consultation drew around 11,500 responses by its February 2025 close. 81% backed mandatory licensing (Option 1); only about 3% supported the Government’s preferred text and data mining exception with an opt-out (Option 3).¹⁵

16. Almost every UK national paper ran the ‘Make It Fair’ front page

On 25 February 2025, the News Media Association coordinated a "Make It Fair" wraparound that ran on the front pages and homepages of nearly every UK daily, including The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, The Sun, The Independent and Metro. The Financial Times was one of the few that did not run it.¹⁶

17. The Lords passed the Kidron transparency amendment 272 to 125

In May 2025, peers voted 272 to 125 in favour of Baroness Beeban Kidron’s amendment to the Data (Use and Access) Bill, which would have forced AI companies to disclose the copyrighted material they used in training. The Commons stripped the clause; the final Act only commits Ministers to publish an economic impact assessment and report within nine months.¹⁷

18. Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Elton John warn the Government

On the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Sir Paul McCartney warned the Government that the opt-out plan would let young songwriters be "ripped off" by tech firms. Weeks later Sir Elton John said he felt "incredibly betrayed", called Ministers "absolute losers" and threatened court action if the plan went through.¹⁸

What is economically at stake in the UK

19. UK music contributes a record £8 billion to the economy

UK Music’s This Is Music 2025 report puts the wider sector’s Gross Value Added at a record £8 billion in 2024 (up 5% year on year), with £4.8 billion in exports and 220,000 full-time-equivalent jobs supported, a base that the BPI argues is at risk if AI training is allowed without licensing.¹⁹

20. The UK recorded music market topped £1.57 billion in 2025

BPI trade figures show the UK recorded music market grew 5% in 2025 to a record £1.57 billion, the first time it has cleared the £1.5 billion mark. Industry analysts at The Business Research Company project the global AI in music market to grow from $4.48 billion in 2025 to $5.55 billion in 2026, a small but fast moving slice of the wider music economy. More numbers on AI music in 2026 are in our data overview.²⁰