At a time when generative tools allow songs to be published at breakneck speed, Spotify announces a package of changes to put things in order: more transparency, limits on impersonation and an anti-spam firewall against abuses that distort the payment system and the listening experience.
The company combines support for an industry standard to flag the use of AI with new policies against deepfakes voice and a system that will flag manipulative practices. The idea is clear: support responsible creativity without tolerating deception, fine-tuning the measures progressively and in coordination with labels and distributors.
Transparency: AI metadata with DDEX
Spotify will support the implementation of DDEX, a standard that allows for credits to be reflected where, how and to what degree AI intervened on a single track (vocals, instrumentation, or post-production processes). This approach avoids the "all or nothing" approach and facilitates more nuanced disclosures.
The platform emphasizes that the presence of AI metadata does not entail penalties: the goal is to strengthen trust, not reduce the visibility of those who report clearly. In practice, The mentions will appear as labels and distributors send the standardized information..
To accelerate adoption, Spotify is working with a broad base of independent ecosystem partners—such as CD Baby, DistroKid, Believe, Empire, and Downtown Artist & Label Services—and is in conversation with major record labels, generally in favor of standardizing these disclosures.
Red line against impersonation and cloned voices
Vocal imitation without permission will be considered an infringement: content that clones or replicates artists' voices without consent will be removed from the platformImpersonation is only permitted when the owner explicitly authorizes its use.
In addition, the company is toughening its response to so-called "profile mismatches," when music is uploaded—with or without AI—to a real artist's profile without their approval. Together with distributors, these measures are being implemented. prevention mechanisms at source to detect these cases even before publication, with faster review times.
The music management insists that the priority is to protect the artist's identity and offer clear avenues for complaint. The goal is to distinguish legitimate use of AI tools from deceptive practices, deploying more powerful and better signposted resources.
Anti-spam and fraud firewall
The new spam detection system will detect patterns of abuse such as mass uploads, duplicates, microtracks designed to inflate reproductions or SEO manipulation tactics. Identified songs will no longer be recommended, reducing their impact on the experience and royalty distribution.
The rollout will be phased and conservative, with signals fine-tuned to avoid collateral damage. Meanwhile, Spotify claims it has eliminated the use of the service over the past 12 months. more than 75 million tracks considered spam, a volume in which AI has acted as an accelerator of bad practices.
The problem is not theoretical: US authorities have pursued schemes with mass song generation and use of bots to inflate reproductions, reaching millions of dollars in diverted royalties. In this context, the platform is betting on cutting incentives for fraud and cleaning up recommendations.
What it means for artists and listeners
There won't be a total ban on AI: those who use it creatively and authentically won't be penalized for it. Spotify emphasizes that its priority is to tackle impersonation and deception, while encouraging clear disclosures of technological use in the credits where appropriate.
For listeners, these changes should translate into more information at a glance—as DDEX metadata progresses—and less noise in recommendations. Internally, it's acknowledged that songs generated entirely by AI rarely ignite massive audiences, while productions with human intervention maintain better traction.
The debate is transversal in the industry. Cases like Velvet Sundown—a project with AI components that gained traction in playlists—and the avalanche reported by other services (Deezer speaks of more than 30.000 songs created with AI every day, about 18% of the total) reinforce the need for shared standards, more controls and greater transparencyAt the same time, the growth in payments in the sector—from $1.000 billion in 2014 to $10.000 billion in 2024, according to Spotify itself—is attracting malicious actors.
With this twist, the platform seeks to balance innovation and protection: standardized metadata through DDEX, zero tolerance for voice impersonation, and an anti-spam filter that disables shortcuts. An approach that seeks to separate the creative use of AI from systematic abuse so that artists and listeners can navigate in a safer, more understandable, and fair environment.
