When content generated by AI started showing up on Spotify, featuring bands like The Velvet Sundown, users called for action. They sought a label to denote AI-produced music in their Discover Weekly and recommendations, with some even proposing a boycott of Spotify until such a label was established.

On Thursday, Spotify revealed it would tackle these issues, stating in a press release that “vigorously guarding against the negative aspects of Gen AI is crucial to unlocking its potential for artists and producers.” The platform is rolling out a new spam filtering system, AI disclosures, and enhanced enforcement against impersonation violations such as deepfakes.

Spotify worked alongside DDEX, the Digital Data Exchange, to create a “new industry standard for AI disclosures in music credits.” This initiative recognizes that numerous artists utilize AI tools responsibly, hence a straightforward “AI” or “Not AI” label is inadequate for listeners who wish to know if they are experiencing AI music.

“This standard enables artists and rights holders to transparently specify where and how AI has influenced a track—whether via AI-generated vocals, instrumentation, or post-production,” stated Spotify. “This modification is intended to bolster trust throughout the platform, not to punish artists who engage with AI responsibly or downgrade tracks for revealing their creation process.”

“AI, in its best form, opens up remarkable new avenues for artists to compose music and for listeners to find it. At its worst, it can be exploited by malicious entities and content farms to deceive listeners, introduce ‘slop’ into the ecosystem, and obstruct the careers of genuine artists,” the press release from Spotify went on. “Such detrimental AI content diminishes the user experience and often seeks to misdirect royalties to unscrupulous actors.”

Spotify’s updated impersonation policy introduces stronger safeguards against AI voice duplicates. The platform aims to combat spam music—such as mass uploads, duplicates, SEO manipulations, artificially condensed track misuse, and additional forms of slop—by launching a system to identify, tag, and cease the recommendation of such content. They will proceed cautiously to prevent penalizing the wrong individuals, gradually incorporating more signals as the system matures.

“These updates are part of ongoing efforts to cultivate a more dependable music ecosystem for artists, rights holders, and listeners. We’ll keep adapting as technology progresses, so stay tuned,” Spotify concluded.