Guide

Audius: Where AI Music Lives (and What the Rules Actually Say)

Oct 27, 2026 · Every claim checked against Audius's own pages and code on Oct 27, 2026 · Edited by Nathan Crowe, our editor

The short version

Audius is free for artists to upload to and free for fans to stream (Costs and Fees on Audius). Its CEO has said publicly that AI is a tool and that the platform's line is consent over training data, not whether a machine was involved (Audius blog, Aug 5, 2025). Its Terms of Use don't mention AI at all. What they do say, at length, is that whatever you upload has to be yours. For anyone making songs in Suno, Udio, or Mureka, that one clause is the whole game.

What Audius has said about AI

Audius's stance is in an Aug 5, 2025 post on its own blog. CEO Roneil Rumburg puts the line at training data: "did the creators of the music consent, directly, to that training happening?" He also says AI will "lower the bar for more people to create music and create leverage for existing creators to work more effectively" (Audius blog).

That's a stance, not a rule. The rules are below.

The AI-attribution setting (now gone)

In May 2023 Audius added an "AI-Friendly" toggle to artists' settings pages. An artist who switched it on let other users upload AI-generated tracks trained on that artist's music, and those tracks showed up in a "Generated with AI" section on the original artist's profile (Music Ally, May 3, 2023; MusicTech). Audius's own blog calls it an "AI Music Attribution Tool" that helps "trace whether a track was generated using AI and how" (Audius blog).

Note what it wasn't. It was never a "this track was made with AI" label for your own originals. It was a consent switch for artists whose music other people's AI tracks were trained on.

Is it still live? No. On Oct 27, 2025, Audius merged a change titled "Drop ai-attribution" into its web and mobile app code. It deleted the AI-attribution settings window, the upload dropdown, the "Generated with AI" track section, and the AI-attributed tracks page (Audius apps commit, PR #13321). Some leftovers remain: Audius's public API still has an allow_ai_attribution field on user profiles, an ai_attribution_user_id field on tracks, and an endpoint that lists a user's AI-attributed tracks (/users/handle/{handle}/tracks/ai_attributed) (Audius API spec). The official JavaScript SDK also accepts an aiAttributionUserId when you create a track (SDK source).

The help center matches the code. The old help article on AI-generated music (help.audius.co/product/ai-generated-music-on-audius) now returns a 404, and the current "Editing Your Release" guide, updated Apr 13, 2026, lists every setting on the edit page and has no AI field (Editing Your Release). Don't plan around the AI-Friendly toggle; it's no longer in the app.

The terms that matter

You have to own it. By uploading, you promise that everything you publish "is your original work of authorship for which you are the sole and exclusive owner," or that you have every license and permission you need (Audius Terms of Use, last updated Oct 5, 2025, "Creator Content License"). The help center says the same thing more bluntly: you can only upload music where you fully own both the composition and the sound recording copyright, unless you have explicit written permission or a license (Copyright Policies).

Audius doesn't say whether a Suno or Udio output counts as your "original work of authorship." Its Terms of Use don't mention AI, and we found nothing in its help center or blog on who owns AI-generated output. For that, read your generator's terms on who owns what you make, and keep a copy of the plan you were on when you made the track.

You grant Audius a broad license. You keep ownership, but you give Audius a "non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free" license to use your content, including through third-party services that use its API (Terms of Use).

Uploads get scanned. Tracks go through a content identification system, and a match against a flagged copyrighted work can block the upload (Copyright Policies).

Three strikes. A DMCA takedown means a strike. Three strikes can get your account suspended and your uploads de-linked. Strikes expire after 90 days if you pick up no new ones (Copyright Policies). Takedown notices go to [email protected].

Covers and remixes need permission. There's a "This Song is a Cover" toggle that credits the original writer, and Audius says to have permission before you publish. A remix needs the original owner's permission too (Editing Your Release; Copyright Policies). An AI "cover" of someone else's song is still a cover.

Licensing and the API. Uploads default to "All Rights Reserved," and you can switch to one of six Creative Commons licenses. Tracks are available through the API by default, under Audius's Open Music License (Audius blog, Jul 8, 2025). Each track has a "Disallow Streaming via the API" switch if you'd rather opt out (Editing Your Release).

Selling. If you sell a track, the network keeps 10% and the other 90% is yours to withdraw right away (Costs and Fees).

Embeds

Every track, playlist, and album has an embed code. In Audius's own web app code, the embed window ("Embed Track") offers three player sizes (Audius web app source):

The code is a plain iframe that points at audius.co/embed/track/…?flavor=…, so it pastes into most site builders and blogs. On the web, "Embed" is an item in a track's, playlist's, or album's overflow (three-dot) menu, and there's an "Embed" button in the Share window too (track menu source; Share window source). There's no help-center article on embeds; all of this comes from Audius's source code, not a user guide.

How to upload, step by step

Audius has no current help article on uploading, so these steps come from its sign-up guide, its upload page, and the fields in its edit guide, which match the upload form.

1. Make an account. Sign up on the web with an email, password, handle, and display name (How do I sign up for Audius?).
2. Export the best file you have. Audius accepts FLAC, WAV, AIFF, MP3, M4A, AAC, OGG, OPUS, and more, and recommends lossless. Streams play at 320 kbps and 48 kHz (Supported File Types). If your generator lets you download a WAV, use the WAV.
3. Go to audius.co/upload and add your file.
4. Fill in the basics: artwork, title, genre, mood, tags, and description (Editing Your Release). Audius has no "made with AI" label for your own tracks: the edit guide lists no AI field, and the upload form in Audius's current code has none. If you want listeners to know a track was made with AI, say so in the description.
5. Set privacy and access. Public or hidden, then Free for Everyone, Premium, Special Access, or Coin Gated (same source).
6. Open Advanced. Choose a license type, add an ISRC if your distributor gave you one, flip "This Song is a Cover" if it is one, and decide on API streaming (same source).
7. Stems & Downloads (optional). Let fans download the full lossless track or extra files such as stems (same source).
8. Remix settings (optional). If your track is a remix of something on Audius, "Identify as Remix" links it to the original (same source).
9. Publish. You can come back later and change any of it, or swap in a new audio file with Replace File (same source).

Verdict

Audius gives AI music a free home with lossless uploads, instant payouts, and an embed player that works almost anywhere. The rules come down to one thing: you're promising you have the rights. Its one AI-specific tool, the 2023 attribution switch, was removed from the app in Oct 2025. A few fields linger in the API; the app and help center no longer have it.

Sources checked Oct 27, 2026. Audius updates its help center often, so check your own upload screen too.

Opinions are Nathan's.