Artists Fight Back Against AI Slop, But Are DSPs Doing Enough?

Photo Credit: Igor Omilaev

Numerous artists have seen AI slop try to cut in on their streaming royalties. But is the matter being taken seriously enough by major streamers?

It’s not a new problem, but it’s going to get worse before it gets better. British artist Benedict Cork told TIME that after uploading a clip of himself playing a new track on social media, an AI fake started making the rounds less than a week later, trying to capitalize on the viral success of his snippet.

“At first, I found it really funny. Then I was impressed by how amazing the technology is,” said Cork. “And then I became a little more angry.”

Cork is just the latest artist to report facing increased competition—or straight-up theft—from AI-generated content. But he certainly won’t be the last.

Last summer, Spotify was revealed to have published AI-generated songs on official artist pages of lesser-known or deceased musicians, without the knowledge or consent of the musicians’ estates or rights holders. In July, a track called “Together” appeared on the official verified Spotify Artist Page of singer-songwriter Blaze Foley, who has been dead since 1989.

It’s not just deceased or lesser-known artists, however. Even iconic 80s rockers Toto were afflicted with an AI-generated track on their official Spotify page last year. That case popped up just days after the aforementioned Foley incident.

“I am surprised Spotify let this on,” said Steve Lukather, Toto’s only remaining original member. “There is not much we can do but catch them and have it taken down. It is shameless now.”

In December, after Aussie prog rockers King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard called it quits from the streamer and pulled their music, Spotify dealt with an AI impersonator trying to capitalize on the group’s exit. The fake versions were even recommended by Spotify’s own “Release Radar” playlist.

“Spotify strictly prohibits any form of artist impersonation,” the streamer told Digital Music News at the time. “The content in question was removed for violating our platform policies, and no royalties were paid out for any streams generated.”

That followed the company’s announcement in September that it had removed over 75 million AI slop tracks in the last year alone. To bolster its guardrails, Spotify also unveiled tools designed around artists and publishers tagging the use of AI in their content when uploading it to the service. The streamer is also testing Artist Profile Protection, which is now in beta, an optional feature allowing artists to review their uploads before they appear on their profiles.

Spotify making moves is timely, given the success of French streamer Deezer’s AI detection tech, which the company has started licensing to other companies and organizations. That includes the Hungarian rights body, EJI.

Deezer is still a considerably smaller company than its biggest competitors in the game. But it recently reported becoming profitable, which is thanks in no small part to its efforts in maintaining transparency where AI and music streaming collide.

But with AI tech getting better, and companies reporting more and more impersonators, this problem is certainly going to get worse before it gets better. Sony Music said earlier this month that it has requested the removal of more than 135,000 songs created by fraudsters impersonating its artists across streaming services—including AI deepfakes of Harry Styles, Queen, and Beyoncé.

“In the worst cases, [deepfakes] potentially damage a release campaign or tarnish the reputation of an artist,” said Dennis Kooker, President of Sony’s Global Digital Business. “They are taking advantage of the fact that an artist is out there promoting their music. That is when deepfakes are at their worst—building off of and benefitting from the demand an artist has created.”

So if the problem is hitting artists both classic and contemporary, new and old, alive and dead, is anyone safe? Where does it end? At this point, it’s up to streamers to release more guardrails to prevent these fakes and identify them when they break through, and rights holders to ensure streamers are held accountable for keeping AI impersonators off their platforms. It’s an unfortunate game of whack-a-mole, and one that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.