Photo by cottonbro studio
Spotify has revealed a sweeping purge of 75 million tracks deemed “spammy” and AI-generated, part of a new wave of policies aimed at protecting creators from identity misuse. The platform’s statement, posted on September 25, outlines several measures: an impersonation policy to remove tracks using unauthorized AI voice cloning; an enhanced spam filter to catch dupes, mass uploads, SEO hacks, and “artificially short track abuse”; and a new AI disclosure tool, developed with DDEX, to increase transparency about how AI was used in track creation.
Spotify emphasises that while it supports artists’ creative use of AI, it will aggressively counter misuse: “We’re investing in tools to protect artist identity … We support artists’ freedom to use AI creatively while actively combating its misuse by content farms and bad actors.”
The timing of Spotify’s AI crackdown may strike some as ironic following CEO and founder Daniel Ek’s €600 million investment in Helsing, a defense technology firm that builds AI-driven systems for military use. There is a palpable tension: Spotify claims to defend creatives from AI misuse, even as its CEO backs a firm deploying AI technologies in warfare – investing large amounts of money while most artists are paid very little by the streaming platform. The move has already sparked backlash from artists, including Massive Attack and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, who announced the withdrawal of their catalogues in protest.
