Spotify's new policy allows AI-generated artist accounts such as Velvet Sundown to continue uploading music and label content as AI.
Spotify has announced a new AI-related policy, saying it will not ban AI-generated music unless it is “spam” or “slop” and will not ban the account's “freedom to use AI freedom creatively.”
According to a statement released today, Spotify's new policy will focus on “impersonation violation enforcement,” “new spam filtering system,” and “AI disclosure of music with industry standard credits.”
These new rules allow AI-generated music accounts to continue posting music to the platform, and encourage the above accounts to be labeled as AI involved.
“AI is changing the way we create music, but our priorities are constant,” read the statement.
“We are actively fighting misuse by content farms and bad actors while supporting the freedom of artists to use AI creatively.”
Spotify's approach to not exclude AI-generated music from its services was spoken by executives at a press conference on Tuesday about the new policy.
“We are not here to punish artists for authentic and responsible use of AI,” said Charlie Hellman, Vice President and Head of Music Products at Spotify.
“We hope that by using AI production tools, artists can become more creative than ever.”
Spotify also revealed that it has removed more than 75 million “spammy trucks” over the past year. The new policy plans to continue to rule out “music spam” that has been gradually rolled out in the new spam identification system over the coming months.
Spotify claimed that total music payments on the platform increased from $1 billion in 2014 (856.5 million euros) to $10 billion in 2024 (85.6 billion euros), adding that “but big payments invite bad actors.” The statement said it aimed to address the issue of uploading music to unfairly obtaining such large payments.
However, according to the data, few artists have received substantial payments from Spotify, with about 70 or more individuals receiving more than 9 million euros.
A survey of European musicians conducted last year by an international artist organization found that around 70% of artists were dissatisfied with the amount they received from streaming revenue.
According to a June report by the Irish Music Rights Organization (IMRO) report, many creators pay less wages due to the streaming service's payment structure, and many musicians interviewed them and expressed concerns about how much of their income would be in their hands.
In an IMRO study, musicians expressed concern about the rise of AI and the potential negative impact on human musicians who are already struggling to make a living from music.
Spotify has recently faced a public backlash to allow activities from accounts such as Velvet Sundown, an artist account where music, lyrics, visuals and stories are fully generated. Velvet Sundown's top songs have over 3.1 million listens on Spotify.
Similarly, Xania Monet is a completely AI-inducing account that posts R&B music that has accumulated over 17 million streams. a Billboard A report published yesterday estimated Monet songs that were generated over 42,800 euros in less than two months.
Billboard Also reported last week that Monet was signed in a multi-million-dollar record deal by independent music company Hallwood Media after a bid war that allegedly offered $3 million (2.5 million euros).
Competitor platform Deezer says that around 28% of daily uploads are fully AI-generated music, which has been on the rise since the beginning of the year. That said, Deather said he believes that up to 70% of plays on these tracks are fraudulent and therefore are excluded from royalty payments.
Unlike Deezer, who searches for AI-related activities, Spotify describes the use of AI as “spectral rather than binary” and says, “The industry needs a subtle approach to AI transparency and doesn't have to be forced to classify all songs as “AI” or “not AI.” ”
Some artists are already opposed to the new policy.
“My Spotify artist profile shows that all of a sudden I jumped into a place where there was almost nothing real-time listening numbers,” said Hungarian composer Peter Sass.
“And I already know that it can take my music down by Spotify and I wouldn't be able to do anything, but it's a shitty AI promotion bot.”
South African DJ Yolophonik suggested that Spotify itself could exploit the policy, writing to X, “Are platforms like Spotify and Apple Music really stopped from creating their own AI artists and paying for themselves?”
Many artists have opposed the existence of accounts that have previously been generated by AI in music.
In a currently deleted video of Tiktok, Kelani stated, “No one on earth can justify AI to me.
Kehlani said the use of AI was unfair because the success of music was the human artist “worked hard, trained, slept on the floor, injured and worked for the rest of his life.”
SZA also spoke about AI and added concerns about the environmental harms of AI use.
“Hey, I hate AI,” SZA said in an Instagram story.
“Don't make images of me or songs of AI. People and children are dying from the harm and pollution that the AI energy centre is creating.”
By 2026, the Global AI Energy Centre will increase its energy demand by 10 times in 2024, exceeding the annual electricity consumption of countries of Belgium size.
