Against AI Slop: Spotify Introduces Label for "Real" Artists

Spotify is introducing a seal that identifies “real” artists as such. It will appear in the coming weeks on artist profiles and next to names in search, marked by the inscription “Verified by Spotify” and a light green icon. “In the age of AI, it's more important than ever to be able to trust the authenticity of the music,” the company writes.

Before Spotify awards a seal, the company checks whether an “identifiable artist presence” exists both on and off the platform, for example, through concert dates, merchandising, and linked social media accounts. Profiles that primarily offer AI-generated music are initially excluded from receiving the seal. However, Spotify does not want to commit permanently. “In today's music landscape, artistic authenticity is a complex and rapidly changing concept. Therefore, we will continuously evolve our approach,” the company writes.

However, an identifiable artist presence alone is not enough. Compliance with platform rules and stable listener activity over a longer period are also crucial for awarding the seal. For awarding the seal, compliance with platform rules and stable listener activity over a longer period are also crucial. The latter is intended to help conduct comprehensive checks across millions of artist profiles. Conversely, this means: Not every artist profile without a seal is automatically an AI persona.

Labeling to be introduced gradually

According to Spotify, more than 99 percent of artists actively searched for by users will be verified at launch. Priority will be given to artists with an active fan base or particular significance to the music landscape and its history. Further checks will be carried out continuously.

The introduction of the authenticity seal follows earlier measures against AI spam. In September, Spotify announced, among other things, stricter rules for unauthorized AI voice clones, AI indications in song credits, and a spam filter intended to curb spam tactics that are easier to scale with AI. The example of Deezer shows how big the problem of AI-generated music has become: The competitor recently reported that 44 percent of the songs newly uploaded daily are AI-generated. This corresponds to almost 75,000 tracks per day.

At the same time, Spotify is not fundamentally opposed to AI: the company is working on functions, among other things, that allow users to remix existing songs using AI but wants to obtain licenses from rights holders for this.

(vbr)