Spotify on Thursday announced a series of updates to its AI policy, designed to better indicate when AI is being used to make music, to cut down on spam, and to make it clearer that unauthorized voice clones are not permitted on its service.<\/p>\n
The company says it will adopt an upcoming industry standard for identifying and labeling AI music in credits, known as DDEX<\/a>, and will soon roll out a new music spam filter to catch more bad actors.<\/p>\n Under the DDEX system, labels, distributors, and music partners submit standardized AI disclosures in music credits. This solution offers detailed information about the use of AI \u2014 like whether it was used for AI-generated vocals, instrumentation, or post-production, for example.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know the use of AI is going to be a spectrum, with artists and producers incorporating AI in various parts of their creative workflow,\u201d said Sam Duboff, Spotify\u2019s Global Head of Marketing and Policy, in a press briefing on Wednesday. \u201cThis industry standard will allow for more accurate, nuanced disclosures. It won\u2019t force tracks into a false binary where a song either has to be categorically AI or not AI at all,\u201d he noted. <\/p>\n As part of the same announcement, Spotify clarified its polices around AI-enabled personalization, stating directly thatunauthorized AI voice clones, deepfakes, and any other form of vocal replicas or impersonation are not allowed and will be removed from the platform.<\/p>\n While the DDEX standard is developing, Spotify says it\u2019s received commitments from 15 labels and distributors who plan to adopt the technology, and sees its move as one that could signal to others it\u2019s time to adopt the technology.<\/p>\n Because AI tools make it easier for anyone to release music, Spotify also has a new plan to cut down on the potential spam that results. This fall, the company will roll out a new music spam filter that will attempt to address spam tactics, tag them, and then stop recommending those tracks to users.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span> \u201cWe know 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\u2026we\u2019ve been fighting these kinds of tactics for years,\u201d Duboff said. \u201cBut AI is accelerating these issues with more sophistication, and we know that requires new types of mitigations.\u201d<\/p>\n The company said it would roll out the filter gradually to make sure it\u2019s targeting the right signals, then add more signals over time as the market evolves. <\/p>\n Related to this, Spotify will also work with distributors to address something called \u201cprofile mismatches,\u201d a scheme where someone fraudulently uploads music to another artist\u2019s profile across streaming services. The company said it hopes to prevent more of these before the music ever goes live. <\/p>\n Despite the changes, Spotify executives emphasized that they still support use of AI provided it\u2019s used in a non-fraudulent way. \u201cWe\u2019re not here to punish artists for using AI authentically and responsibly. We hope that artists\u2019 use of AI production tools will enable them to be more creative than ever,\u201d noted Spotify VP and Global Head of Music, Charlie Hellman. \u201cBut we are here to stop the bad actors who are gaming the system, and we can only benefit from all that good side of AI if we aggressively protect against the downside,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Spotify\u2019s updates follow a rapid increase in AI-generated music across the industry. This summer, an AI-generated band called Velvet Sundown went viral <\/a>on its service, leading users to complain<\/a> that the company isn\u2019t transparent about labeling its AI tracks. Meanwhile, streaming rival Deezer recently shared<\/a> that about 18% of the music uploaded each day to its service \u2014 or more than 20,000 tracks \u2014 is now fully AI-generated. <\/p>\n Spotify wouldn\u2019t share its own metrics on the matter directly \u2014 but Duboff told reporters that \u201cthe reality is, all streaming services have almost exactly the same catalog.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople tend to deliver the music to all services,\u201d he explained, adding that uploading tracks doesn\u2019t mean anyone\u2019s listening or that the AI music makes money. \u201cWe know AI usage is increasingly not a binary, but kind of a spectrum of how artists and producers are using it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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