Spotify removes 50 million low-quality AI tracks from recommendations

Spotify says it removed about 50 million AI-generated tracks it considered low-quality or spam from user recommendations over the past year, as music services, artists and listeners respond to the growth of AI-made music. Even musicians who welcome AI, including Grimes and A$AP Rocky, say they prefer to make their own music themselves, while listeners appear to favour songs centred on voices and traditional instruments.

Spotify requires profiles for fictional AI artists to carry a badge, but does not require AI-generated songs to be labelled, and it also offers generative AI features. Grimes has described her forthcoming album, her first in six years, as AI-inspired rather than AI-generated, with her team credited; Rocky says fully prompt-generated music is a choice for others. Recent Billboard charts are dominated by albums and singles with comparatively direct vocal and instrumental arrangements.