Artificial intelligence music is under renewed scrutiny after streaming giant Spotify removed an estimated 75 million tracks from its platform in one of the biggest clean-ups in the industry’s history.
The move is not aimed at musicians using artificial intelligence (AI) as a creative tool.
Instead, Spotify is cracking down on a growing wave of fake, mass-produced songs uploaded purely to manipulate the platform’s royalty system and divert earnings away from genuine artists.
The scale of the problem highlights how quickly AI-generated content is reshaping music streaming and why platforms are racing to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated fraud.
Spotify says the issue is not artificial intelligence itself, but the misuse of it.
According to Spotify senior director Sam Duboff, the platform is targeting what many in the industry have started calling ‘AI slop’ – low-quality tracks generated in seconds and uploaded in huge volumes with little or no creative input.
Modern AI music tools can produce complete songs from a simple text prompt, enabling bad actors to flood streaming services with thousands of nearly identical tracks.
That flood is growing rapidly. Around 100 000 new songs are uploaded to Spotify every day, while industry estimates suggest almost half of new music arriving on streaming platforms is now AI-generated.
STEALING ROYALTIES
The motivation is simple: Money.
Every stream contributes to a shared royalty pool. Fraudsters exploit this by uploading enormous libraries of generic ambient sounds, meditation music and repetitive instrumental tracks, then using automated bots to generate artificial streams.
These songs often appear under invented artist names and are designed for background playlists where listeners are unlikely to notice who is performing.
The result is that money intended for genuine musicians is redirected to people who have manipulated the system.
For independent South African artists, where every stream can make a meaningful difference, this type of fraud has real financial consequences.
Every fake stream reduces the share available to musicians who have invested their time, talent and resources into creating original music.
Spotify has made it clear that AI-created music is not automatically banned.
The company continues to allow music made with AI tools when creators have the appropriate commercial rights and the technology forms part of a legitimate creative process.
Its focus is on abuse.
Spotify has strengthened its machine-learning systems to detect suspicious upload patterns and streaming activity associated with bots.
It has also prohibited unauthorised AI voice cloning, meaning tracks that imitate the voices of established artists without permission can be removed.
The platform has also introduced additional safeguards to prevent companies from scraping its catalogue to train AI models without authorisation.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR AI MUSIC?
The debate on AI in music is far from over.
Record industry organisations are pushing for clearer labelling that would identify whether songs are AI-generated or AI-assisted.
Supporters say greater transparency would help listeners make informed choices while protecting the work of human artists.
As AI technology becomes more advanced, streaming services will face increasing pressure to distinguish between genuine creativity and content produced solely to exploit algorithms.
Spotify’s removal of 75 million tracks marks an important step, but it is unlikely to be the last. The challenge now is staying ahead of those determined to game the system.
For music fans, the clean-up is a reminder that behind every legitimate stream is a songwriter, producer or performer whose livelihood depends on fair compensation.
Protecting those creators may prove just as important as embracing the next generation of music technology. – IOL Entertainment
