According to reports, Spotify is removing songs made by artificial intelligence (AI), continuing the conflict between the music business and this technology. Boomy, a music firm that utilises AI to produce complete songs, had “tens of thousands” of tracks which is around 7% of the track count that had been deleted off the music streaming service. Over 14.5 million recordings, or roughly 13.9% of the world’s recorded music, were produced by Boomy.
On May 1, Boomy declared that Spotify had started to tighten down on music made using its technology and uploaded to the site. Two days later, a Spotify official told Music Business Worldwide that the firm has discovered and removed violators of its policies related to a number of Boomy-generated tracks after discovering illegal streaming on those songs.
Universal Music Group (UMG), a major player in the music business, urged streaming service providers via email last month to restrict AI services from accessing music collections for training as a response to the rising “suspicious streaming activity” on Boomy records. Following these allegations of fraud and platform clutter, streaming services like Spotify and others have started to receive this information.
“The recent explosive development in generative AI will, if left unchecked, both increase the flood of unwanted content on platforms and create rights issues with respect to existing copyright law,” said Lucian Grainge, CEO of Universal Music Group in a statement to shareholders.
Due to what is believed to be “artificial streaming” by bots acting as listeners, the Boomy tracks were ultimately taken down. “Artificial streaming is a longstanding, industry-wide issue that Spotify is working to stamp out across our service,” Spotify stated in response. Reflecting on the claims of Boomy representatives, the firm is “categorically against” any kind of tampering or fraudulent streaming.
The removal of AI-generated music with erroneous streams by Spotify proves its dedication to banning fake streaming and preserving royalty payments for authentic artists. Reflecting on it, Spotify stated, “When we identify or are alerted to potential cases of stream manipulation, we mitigate their impact by taking action that may include the removal of streaming numbers and the withholding of royalties. This allows us to protect royalty payouts for honest, hard working artists.” With all the recent concerns around the music industry on the protection of the artists, this step will foster a sense of trust and peace among the musicians.