Music streaming giant Spotify has pulled the plug on 75 million “spammy” tracks over the past year, exposing the enormous scale of AI-generated music fraud plaguing the platform. The eye-watering number reveals how bad actors have been flooding the service with low-quality content to siphon off royalty payments meant for genuine artists.
The company hasn’t just been playing whack-a-mole with dodgy uploads though. Alongside the massive cleanup, Spotify has announced a comprehensive set of AI policies designed to tackle unauthorised voice clones, spam content, and the murky world of AI-generated music that lacks proper transparency.
“At its best, AI is unlocking incredible new ways for artists to create music and for listeners to discover it. At its worst, AI can be used by malicious actors and content farms to confuse or deceive listeners, push ‘slop’ into the ecosystem, and interfere with authentic artists working to build their careers,” the company explained. “That kind of harmful AI content degrades the user experience for listeners and often attempts to divert royalties to bad actors.”
Spotify Fights Back Against 30,000 Daily AI Tracks and Massive Stream Fraud
Spotify isn’t fighting this battle alone. Rival platform Deezer recently revealed that more than 30,000 fully AI-generated tracks are being uploaded to streaming services every single day. Even more shocking, Deezer’s research found that up to 70% of plays for these AI-generated tracks have been detected as fraudulent streams.
The financial incentive driving this flood of spam is clear. Spotify’s total music payouts have grown from $1 billion in 2014 to a staggering $10 billion in 2024. With that much money flowing through the system, it’s no surprise that fraudsters have found ways to game the platform with minimal-effort content.
Spotify is launching three key initiatives to tackle the problem, all starting immediately.
First up is a new music spam filter that identifies mass uploaders, duplicate content, and tracks using SEO manipulation to game the algorithm. Bad actors will be flagged, and their junk music will stop being recommended to listeners.
The second measure strengthens Spotify’s impersonation policy by explicitly banning unauthorised AI voice clones, deepfakes, and vocal impersonation. The company made it clear that vocal impersonation is only acceptable when the artist being impersonated has given their permission.
Third, Spotify is pushing for transparency through standardised labelling. The platform is working with DDEX to develop a new metadata standard that will disclose when AI has been used in music creation. More than 15 labels and distributors have already signed up to support the initiative.
The impact on legitimate musicians has been significant. With fake artists generating fake streams to earn real royalties, genuine artists have been seeing their potential income diverted to fraudsters. The public backlash against AI-generated music on Spotify has been building for months, making these new policies long overdue.
Spotify Deletes 75 Million Tracks and Rolls Out New Spam Filters
Sam Duboff, Spotify’s global head of marketing and policy, noted that while tracks appearing to be entirely created through generative AI currently represent minimal engagement on the platform, the fraud problem remains serious.
“It’s really a small percentage of streams. In general, when the music doesn’t take much effort to create, it tends to be low quality and doesn’t find an audience,” Duboff said.
Universal Music Group has welcomed Spotify’s announcement, describing the measures as “important steps” that include content filtering, infringement checks, and penalties for those who break the rules.
Spotify has been careful to stress that these new measures aren’t designed to punish “authentic and responsible AI use.” The company wants to encourage artists to explore creative applications of AI technology while simultaneously blocking the worst abuses of the system.
The new spam filter will be gradually rolled out over the coming months, giving Spotify time to fine-tune the system and ensure it catches bad actors without accidentally penalising legitimate artists experimenting with AI tools.
As streaming platforms continue to evolve and AI technology becomes more sophisticated, the battle against spam and fraud shows no signs of slowing down. Spotify’s massive deletion of 75 million tracks is just the beginning of what promises to be an ongoing fight to protect both artists and listeners from the worst excesses of AI-generated content.
