The global music industry faces a fast-moving data crisis driven by generative AI and fragmented metadata. Jacob Varghese, CEO and founder of Noctil, warns the sector must act now to protect revenue and speed payments. Moreover, he says clear rules and better systems will restore trust across platforms.
AI Enforcement and Attribution Challenges
AI is already changing how music appears online. For example, streaming services now see surges of AI-generated tracks. Consequently, listeners often cannot tell AI music from human-made songs. Therefore, Varghese urges the industry to adopt data-level enforcement by 2026. He recommends mandatory fields like “AI-assisted” and “fully AI-generated.” These flags would make attribution clear and help services pay creators fairly. In addition, automated checks can stop legacy systems from collapsing under the data load.
Secondary uses of music create both opportunity and loss. Short video, gaming, and virtual worlds drive huge consumption, yet many micro-transactions go unmonetized. Varghese points to messy metadata as the main cause. Thus, he calls for industrialised licensing and error-free data matching so every clip, play, or in-game use generates the correct payment. Furthermore, clean metadata would make music more attractive to institutional investors by proving ownership and royalty flows. Indeed, an estimated $2.5 billion in royalties remain unclaimed due to data issues.
Growth and Workflow Automation
Global growth adds urgency and complexity. Regions such as the Middle East, North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa are among the fastest-growing markets. As a result, the industry needs interoperable, flexible data infrastructures that move a track’s information across borders without friction. Varghese also sees AI as a rescue tool. Specifically, specialised models can validate, deduplicate, and reconcile records to clear the industry’s “data debt.” Consequently, royalty distributions would speed up and creators would get paid more reliably.
In short, the next steps are clear: standardise metadata, mandate data-level enforcement, and deploy AI to repair broken workflows. If the industry acts before 2026, it can protect revenue, accelerate payments, and turn disruption into a more transparent, efficient future.
About the Author
