Spotify has removed 50 million songs from its algorithmic and editorial recommendations this year in an effort to curb the spread of mass AI-generated content and spam. The songs have not been removed from the platform, but users will be able to find them mainly if they search for them purposefully.
Spotify has also completely removed more than 75 million songs after they were marked as spam. This way, the platform distinguishes between content that remains in the catalog but is not automatically suggested, and songs that have been removed entirely.
Spotify says that at the beginning of the year it analyzed the songs that users most often skip, ignore or explicitly mark as unwanted. According to the platform, a clear pattern has emerged - these recordings were most often identified as spam or low-quality AI content.
“Over the past six months, we have made multiple changes to our recommendation system to remove low-quality content and spam and show more music from real human artists“, Spotify says.
The company adds that its editorial teams apply the same approach and do not include songs identified as spam in their selected suggestions. Since the changes were introduced, the platform has reported a noticeable decrease in complaints about such content in recommendations.
The measures against AI content also include labeling profiles with the AI Persona label. Spotify reports that thousands of profiles have already been marked in this way. They do not fall into recommendations unless the user has chosen to follow them.
The platform also allows you to see in the credits of songs which elements were created with the help of artificial intelligence. Thousands of artists have also opted into a program that allows them to control which songs using their name appear on their profiles. The goal is to limit AI variations that mimic or use the names of real musicians.
Spotify also says that songs created with AI are ten times more likely to fail to reach the 1,000-stream threshold required to receive royalties.
“This work is not done“, Spotify says, warning that the development of AI and the actions of unscrupulous actors continue to accelerate.
The measures are part of a broader shift in music streaming services. YouTube Music has joined Apple Music and Tidal in labeling songs created with AI. Tidal has also said that it will not allow monetization of songs generated or processed with AI.