Spotify announces AI crackdown, removes 75 million tracks from platform

Spotify has announced a crackdown on AI, revealing it has removed 75 million "spammy" tracks made with generative AI tools in the past 12 months and is targeting impersonators.

In a statement shared on September 25, the streaming platform announced the rollout of policies aimed at strengthening its AI protections for artists, songwriters, and producers.

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These include an ‘impersonation policy’, in which Spotify will remove music that AI vocal deepfakes and voice clones used without permission; a new spam filter which identifies users employing tactics such as “mass uploads, duplicates, SEO hacks, artificially short track abuse, and other forms of slop”, which will tag them and stop them being recommended algorithmically and in playlists; and an AI disclosure tool, developed through DDEX, which aims to add transparency to the role AI played in the creation of a track.

The announcement from Spotify adds: “While AI is changing how some music is made, our priorities are constant. We’re investing in tools to protect artist identity, enhance the platform, and provide listeners with more transparency. We support artists’ freedom to use AI creatively while actively combating its misuse by content farms and bad actors. Spotify does not create or own music; this is a platform for licensed music where royalties are paid based on listener engagement, and all music is treated equally, regardless of the tools used to make it.

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“These updates are the latest in a series of changes we’re making to support a more trustworthy music ecosystem for artists, for rights holders, and for listeners. We’ll keep them coming as the tech evolves, so stay tuned.”

Earlier this month Deezer revealed that almost a third of all music uploaded to the French streaming platform is AI-generated, with more than 30,000 “fully AI-generated tracks” uploaded each day, up by almost 20% since January.

Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Editor & Digital Director, follow him on Twitter