Spotify has removed over 75 million AI-generated tracks from their app. With a rise in AI-Generated music, there has been a rise in critique of artificial intelligence – especially in the arts. In response, Spotify is now implementing a new impersonation policy and has updated their spam filter.  

Spotify announced that it is increasing protections against music intended to “confuse or deceive listeners, push ‘slop’ into the ecosystem, and interfere with authentic artists working to build their careers.” This decision comes after a movement of artists removing their songs from the app. 

Consequence reports that the company detailed a three-prong effort to protect artists and listeners, including a new impersonation policy which has been updated to give artists “clearer recourse” against AI voice clones and other forms of unauthorized vocal impersonation. The company has also implemented an updated spam filter and standardized AI disclosures in music credits.

The updated music spam filter (which will officially come out this fall) is designed to combat “mass uploads, duplicates, SEO hacks, artificially short track abuse, and other forms of slop have become easier to exploit as AI tools make it simpler for anyone to generate large volumes of music.” In terms of AI disclosure, Spotify will also be “ramping up” investments against “content mismatch,” which occurs when impersonators fraudulently upload music to another artist’s profile. They’ve partnered with music distributors to “better stop these attacks at the source” and also reduced the “wait time for review” of such content, “enabling artists to report ‘mismatch’ even in the pre-release state.”

This system will flag uploaders of these tracks and stop recommending their content to users. To avoid penalizing the legitimate uploaders, Spotify will “conservatively” implement the filter and adjust it to combat new schemes.

“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,” Spotify stated in a recent press statement. “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.”