Spotify launches music spam filter to kill off AI slop flooding playlists

The rise of artificial intelligence-powered tools is leading to the creation of AI-generated art, which is making its way onto platforms that human artists currently dominate.

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The Velvet Sundown

One of the most notable examples of AI-generated art making waves on a platform is the band The Velvet Sundown, a completely AI-generated band that exploded in popularity with the release of their song "Dust On the Wind". The song attracted millions of streams on Spotify, and the band now has nearly 300,000 monthly listeners.

• Read more: Band explodes in popularity overnight has a big secret that could sink them

With AI tools being so sophisticated now, Dust On the Wind sounds like a song that was made by real people, which has sparked widespread concern about how listeners are meant to tell if the music they are listening to is made by real people or an AI in a matter of seconds.

In response to these concerns, Spotify is implementing a new filter that forces music publishers to label tracks that are generated with artificial intelligence. Additionally, Spotify is adding a new spam filtering system, AI disclosures, and "improved enforcement of impersonation violations" such as deepfakes.

Notably, Spotify worked with the Digital Data Exchange, a standards-setting organization in the music industry, to create the new "industry standard for AI disclosures in music credits" as simply adding an AI-generated label, or "Not AI" label wouldn't solve the problem, and probably make it worse as many artists responsibly use AI as a tool in the creation of their songs, but not entirely.

"This standard gives artists and rights holders a way to clearly indicate where and how AI played a role in the creation of a track-whether that's AI-generated vocals, instrumentation, or post-production. This change is about strengthening trust across the platform. It's not about punishing artists who use AI responsibly or down-ranking tracks for disclosing information about how they were made," Spotify wrote in its press release

"At its best, AI is unlocking incredible new ways for artists to create music and for listeners to discover it. At its worst, AI can be used by bad actors and content farms to confuse or deceive listeners, push 'slop' into the ecosystem, and interfere with authentic artists working to build their careers. That kind of harmful AI content degrades the user experience for listeners and often attempts to divert royalties to bad actors," Spotify's press release read