AI is everywhere, and depending on what you listen to, it may even be populating your music feed, though it’s not a situation everyone is happy with.
While some people are actually okay with listening to AI generated music — much like how some are fine with viewing AI generated images and videos — many more simply think of the medium as simply “slop”, and it is changing the relationship people have with the technology.
And for those people unhappy with the surge in AI content, it has likely made listening to music a very different experience, because it is everywhere.
As it is, music services have reported a rise in uploads, with AI accounting for around 50 percent of music added to services, a number that is clearly rising. Over 70,000 tracks per day are uploaded made with AI, and not necessarily for the benefit of creating music, but possibly more to simply make money from it.
Spotify has responded by removing millions of AI tracks, but even that might not be enough, and this week has decided to roll out changes by adding AI labels to profiles.
Set to go live in September, the change essentially applies an “AI Persona” badge to artist profiles where AI is suspected of being used. Artists can self-declare, but others may end up being classed that way to begin with, though they may not want to publicly admit it.
In fact, artists with the AI Persona badge will be left out of editorial or algorithmic recommendations, a move that will likely go a long way to clean up Spotify’s music lists, but may frustrate those who use AI to create music and don’t consider their work as slop.
Interestingly, there will actually be a difference in the levels of what the AI Persona badge details: tap the badge and it will show whether the information was self-disclosed in an effort to build trust, or whether Spotify noted it by force.
Spotify hasn’t quite addressed what it will do with music from known human artists who decide to use AI in their process. This is more about whether the artist is intentionally AI and not about the song, with the streaming service noting it as AI credits artists can use on songs, though it may not necessarily be as aggressive as removing the songs from lists and recommendations.
By comparison, Paul McCartney and Randy Travis are both real human artists that have used AI to generate music tracks, as have other artists. It’s unlikely they would get qualified as AI artists even if they’re actively using AI, raising a potential flag in the system, or at least an inequality.
However, it is definitely a start, and could begin to address the AI problem that Spotify is clearly dealing with, as is every other music service.
AI for audiobooks
Spotify’s addition isn’t the only thing the company has announced this week, as it uses AI for something else: audiobook selection.
A feature Australian Spotify subscribers look to get as one of the first min the world will allow Aussies who subscribe to describe what they want to read, and then have a personalised list of audiobooks set out in a playlist based on what they’re looking for and their listening history.
It’s similar to a feature Spotify has previously offered for music called “Prompted Playlist” which allows subscribers to describe the sound they’re after for a moment, and has since been expanded to podcasts. Now for audiobooks, it will essentially use some of the intelligence to identify audiobook titles, as well.
Unlike the AI Persona, this is something Aussies will see now, provided they’re a paid Premium customer in Australia and New Zealand, as well as select other countries around the world.
