Sweden – Spotify has announced a set of platform updates and policy changes aimed at protecting artists, songwriters, and producers from the misuse of artificial intelligence.
One of the main measures is stricter enforcement against impersonation, particularly the use of AI-generated vocal deepfakes. Under the new rules, vocal impersonation will only be permitted if the artist being mimicked has given explicit authorisation.
The company is also expanding efforts to prevent fraudulent uploads, where AI-generated tracks are wrongly delivered to another artist’s profile. To address this, Spotify is testing new prevention methods with distributors and strengthening its content mismatch process, allowing artists to report issues even before release.
Another initiative is the rollout of a music spam filter. With rising royalty payouts, spam tactics such as mass uploads and duplicate tracks have become more prevalent. The new filter is designed to detect and limit these practices, ensuring royalties are directed to legitimate artists and songwriters.
In addition, Spotify will support the introduction of AI disclosures in music credits, following an industry standard developed through DDEX (Digital Data Exchange). The system will allow artists and rights holders to specify how AI contributed to a track, from vocals to instrumentation and post-production. Spotify said the move aims to increase transparency without penalising artists who use AI responsibly.
The company is working with a range of industry partners, including Amuse, Believe, CD Baby, DistroKid, EMPIRE, FUGA, and others, to encourage wide adoption of the disclosure standard across streaming platforms.
In a statement, Spotify said, “We envision a future where artists and producers are in control of how or if they incorporate AI into their creative processes. As always, we leave those creative decisions to artists themselves while continuing our work to protect them against spam, impersonation, and deception and providing listeners with greater transparency about the music they hear.”
It added, “While AI is changing how some music is made, our priorities are constant…Spotify does not create or own music; this is a platform for licensed music where royalties are paid based on listener engagement, and all music is treated equally, regardless of the tools used to make it.”
