Spotify Reveals Measures to Combat AI Music, Spam and Deepfakes

As the music industry grapples with the rise of fully AI-generated music, streaming services are finally starting to take action. Spotify has announced three measures to address the issue, including supporting a new industry standard for music credits and rolling out a new spam filter.

A New Standard for Music Credits

Spotify is backing a new industry standard for music credits, developed by the DDEX consortium, which will make it clear how and when AI was used in music tracks. The standard will allow artists to disclose the extent of AI involvement in their creative process.

"If a track includes AI-generated vocals, AI instrumentation, a specific instrument that's AI-generated, or AI-assisted post-production like mixing or mastering, that information can be displayed in the credits on Spotify or any other service using the standard," said Sam Duboff, global head of marketing and policy at Spotify for Artists.

A Crackdown on Spam and Slop

Spotify's new spam filter will identify "bad actors" mass-uploading tracks for fraudulent purposes and/or trying to manipulate its recommendation systems. The company has already removed over 75 million spammy tracks from its service in the past year.

"AI has made it easier than ever for bad actors to mass upload content, create duplicates, use SEO tricks to manipulate search or recommendation systems," said Duboff. "Our new spam filter will flag tracks and uploaders using these tactics and stop recommending them across Spotify programming."

Clarifying Policies on Voice Clones and Deepfakes

Spotify is also updating its policies to clarify that unauthorised AI voice-clones, deepfakes, and other "vocal replicas and impersonation" are not allowed on the platform.

"If they [artists] want to license their voice to an AI project, that's their choice. Our job is to make sure it stays their choice," said Duboff. The company will remove any tracks that violate these policies.

A Cautionary Approach

Spotify is taking a cautious approach to addressing the issue of AI music, avoiding binary labels and focusing on building trust across the music ecosystem.

"This isn't about gatekeeping, it's about building trust across the whole music ecosystem," said Duboff. "We're going to keep talking to artists, songwriters, producers, distributors, about what's working and what's not."

A Shared Approach

Spotify is also keenly aware of the importance of industry standards in addressing AI music. The company has adopted the DDEX standard instead of developing its own.

"We think the industry is better off and listeners are better off with industry standards," said Duboff. "If we think about a world where every streaming service is building their own methodology, their own technology, their own system for what they would call AI and what they don't, that doesn't seem like how we build listener trust as an ecosystem."

A Final Statement

Spotify has denied rumours of creating its own AI music. "Those rumours are categorically and absolutely false," said Duboff.

The company's measures have been welcomed by music rightsholders, including Universal Music Group, which praised Spotify's commitment to protecting the health of the music ecosystem.