Spotify is giving a new label to AI artists

Bad news for aspiring robot rock stars: Spotify is now checking whether artists exist somewhere other than a server rack.

Starting in mid-September, the streaming giant will begin rolling out an “AI Persona” badge identifying artists whose public identities may be AI-generated.

The label will appear on artist profiles, in search results, and alongside tracks in playlists. Artists carrying the badge also won’t appear in personalized recommendations unless a user already follows them.

• The badge focuses on who the artist is, rather than how their music was made.
• Human musicians who use AI during the creative process won’t automatically receive the label, and can separately disclose their use of the technology through Spotify’s existing AI Credits feature.

Who decides who’s a robot? Spotify hopes AI-generated profiles will voluntarily disclose themselves, but the company will also review suspicious accounts and can apply the label itself. Artists can appeal if Spotify mistakes an IRL musician for Wall-E behind a turntable.

Zoom out: The move came days before the Motion Picture Association, the trade association that lobbies for major studios like Disney, Netflix, and Sony Pictures, struck its first agreement with an AI company.

The deal with ByteDance, the former majority owner of TikTok’s US operations, strengthens copyright guardrails on its image and video generation models, which previously drew legal threats over unauthorized content featuring copyrighted material (like SpongeBob SquarePants and Stranger Things).