Spotify is introducing a new feature that will highlight if an artist has been generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
The streaming service says the AI Persona badge, that will start appearing on some profiles from mid-September, will flag to listeners if an “artist’s identity may be AI-generated and does not represent a real person”.
The changes are being introduced to give users “more transparency” about what they’re hearing, Spotify says.
It comes after some music fans made it “clear” to the streamer they don’t like seeing a profile that seems to be a human, to then realise it’s AI-generated.
Swindled sit in the beer garden of the Board Inn pub in Sunderland. Felix is dressed in a white jumper, Thomas is wearing a green t-shirt, Will is wearing a white overshirt, Jonny is wearing a black jumper with a white collar and Alex is wearing a black shirt with a necklace.
Swindled played the Introducing stage at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend in May
AI-generated music has long been a concern for fans and artists.
Musician Alex Winn tells BBC Newsbeat he thinks the incoming feature is a “really good thing”.
“It almost separates the people who have created music properly from the people just using AI,” says guitarist Winn, who plays in the North East band Swindled.
The musician feels people want to “connect emotionally with music” and he thinks “AI can’t really do that”.
The 19-year-old also says having the AI label will help people make an informed choice about their listening habits, and he hopes it will redirect users to other artists and help level the playing field.
“Bands are finding it hard to compete no matter what, nevermind with some AI bands taking over,” he says.
Music fan Leon Keenan thinks AI music shouldn’t be removed completely from Spotify, but agrees that clearly labelling it is a “really good” idea.
“I definitely don’t like AI music, it’s really bad, music is about the passion,” the 20-year-old adds.
Ellie Sumner, 21, also welcomes the new label as she says she has not realised work was AI-generated before.
“It’s very easy to be like ‘AI is so obvious’ and maybe look down on my parents and grandparents falling for it, but I’ve definitely fallen for AI before,” she says.
“It’s sad that we have to label it, but also quite necessary.”
The BBC previously heard from one frustrated listener, who, after finding his playlists increasingly sprinkled with tracks he suspected were AI-generated, built a tool to automatically label and block them.
Announcing the change, Spotify says “true artist-fan connection can only be built on a foundation of trust and authenticity”.
“In music, that means listeners need to be able to trust that the artist behind the music is who they say they are,” it adds.
“That’s more essential than ever in the age of generative AI.”
How will accounts be flagged?
The badge will appear on the banner and about section of artist profiles, as well as a note when they come up in searches and on tracks in playlists.
Artists with the badge will not appear in users’ personalised recommendations unless they already follow them, Spotify says.
The streamer also says the badge will relate to the “artist’s public identity” and not about “how the music was made”, acknowledging that AI tools are being used in some human music creation now.
Musicians can currently be transparent about the AI tools they’ve used when making their tracks through the AI Credits feature, with Spotify saying they get tens of thousands of submissions for this daily.
Spotify hopes AI profiles will self-disclose in the same way, but it will also be reviewing accounts which appear to meet the criteria.
Those which are then labelled with the AI Persona badge by the streamer will be given the chance to self-disclose or appeal the decision.
It will be noted on the badge if an artist was transparent about being AI-generated, or if Spotify had to review the account.
Credit: BBC
