We’ve written quite a bit about how AI is coming for your job. Now AI is coming in your music, flooding streaming platforms with “AI music slop.” However as an alternative of curbing it, Spotify’s CEO Alex Norström is doubling down and embracing AI-generated music—claiming it affords artists safety from piracy, and music-lovers extra freedom to hearken to and create extra of the sort of music they need.
Final week, Spotify and Universal Music Group (UMG) announced landmark licensing agreements, paving the best way for Spotify to launch a brand new software for premium subscribers. The software permits them to create AI-generated tune covers and remixes of their favourite songs from collaborating artists and songwriters on the platform.
The deal has prompted two very completely different reactions. On Wall Avenue, the transfer despatched shares of the inventory up 16% last week, per the Monetary Instances. (On Tuesday, shares of Spotify Know-how S.A. (SPOT) had been up practically 2% in noon buying and selling on the time of this writing.)
Nevertheless, the transfer additionally prompted swift backlash from recording artists and music followers alike.
“I stop Spotify after many a few years due to their makes an attempt to combine AI into music,” one Reddit user responded. “At this charge, Spotify gained’t simply be a streaming platform anymore,” one other quipped.
Norström has defended the transfer as a “rewarding final result for artists and songwriters” that can compensate musicians, arguing Spotify is providing a “controlled” different for musicians to make cash, as an alternative of getting their work ripped off. Critics, nonetheless, are cautious.
“I believe if you will have AI music, it’s clearly higher that you’ve got AI music that’s rooted in consent,” composer Ed Newton-Rex, who campaigns to guard creators’ copyrights, told The Guardian. “[However] the large query will probably be whether or not followers can share remixes they make for different folks to hearken to. If they will, I believe you get into harmful territory. These AI remixes will flood Spotify and drown out different songs, which is able to in flip put strain on extra musicians to enroll to the AI remix function.”
The underside line, he mentioned, is this might find yourself making it even more durable for musicians, who would now should compete with AI-generated work.
And that concern is already being realized. Three different AI-generated songs have already damaged into the highest of Spotify’s “Viral 50” charts. Heard that new band The Velvet Sundown on Spotify? Sorry to let you know, however that’s AI-generated.
Based on a 2025 study from Deezer, a worldwide streaming app, some 50,000 AI-generated songs are uploaded each day to its platform, with 97% of respondents unable to discern whether or not or not the tracks had been absolutely AI-generated.
