Olha Kapinos

Before dancehall veteran Papa Michigan released his album So Many Roads in August, TuneCore turned down one of its songs as AI-made. He had recorded it with live musicians, and the album came out without it. You can upload AI music to Spotify in 2026 through a distributor, with the AI part declared. The checks on the way are where releases stop, and they catch human-made tracks too.

Before a channel earns from ads on YouTube, automated systems and human reviewers look at it as a whole. AIR Media-Tech's Safety team, who handle strikes and policy reviews for the channels we work with, say the review covers the banner and description, your newest, most popular and oldest videos, and any video the algorithms have flagged. Their advice is to delete videos that break the rules 30 days before you apply. The exception is a video with an active strike, since deleting it doesn't remove the strike.

How long it takes to get monetized on YouTube depends mostly on the part before you apply. Reaching the bar for ad revenue, 1,000 subscribers plus 4,000 qualified watch hours in the last 12 months or 10 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days, takes months or years. The review after you apply is shorter. YouTube puts it at about a month, and among the channels AIR Media-Tech's Safety team works with, most hear back within a week. The long waits come in waves, when YouTube launches or tightens a policy, or when the channel has violations.