A scorching potato: Spotify has eliminated a tune from the platform that was an AI-generated observe claiming to be from a rustic singer who died in 1989. Pretend songs allegedly by lesser-known and deceased musicians are one other drawback that streaming companies at the moment are having to cope with because of AI developments.
AI-generated songs which are mass produced for streaming companies and earn money from bots have been a difficulty for a while now. However one other AI headache for corporations similar to Spotify was highlighted over the weekend when a observe known as “Collectively” appeared on the verified official artist web page of Blaze Foley.
Foley was shot and killed in 1989 throughout a dispute with a good friend’s son. This wasn’t a just lately found observe that had been lacking for 36 years; it was a faux that used AI-generated vocals and a canopy picture – which reveals a person who appears to be like nothing like Foley – additionally created by genAI. It even included credit and copyright data to make it seem extra official.
Followers of the singer and his label, Misplaced Artwork Data, knowledgeable Spotify of the observe. Foley’s catalog supervisor, Craig McDonald, advised 404 Media that the tune was not within the model of his different music and nowhere close to the standard that listeners would anticipate.
McDonald recommended that Spotify shouldn’t permit any tracks to seem on artists’ official pages with out permitting the web page proprietor to log off on it first.
Foley’s tune is not an remoted case. The identical firm whose copyright mark seems on Tomorrow’s web page was additionally discovered on one other AI-generated faux. This one was for an AI tune known as “Occurred To You,” which claimed to be the work of Grammy-winning nation singer Man Clarke, who died in 2016. It additionally options an AI-generated piece of canopy artwork that includes an individual who bears no resemblance to Clarke.
A 3rd tune known as “With You” that claims to be from Dan Berk additionally featured the copyright mark. It was uploaded similtaneously the others and included an AI-generated picture of somebody who would not appear to be Berk.
Spotify stated that it eliminated Blaze’s tune for violating its Misleading Content material coverage. It has additionally contacted SoundOn, the distributor of the content material, which is owned by TikTok. 404 Media writes that the corporate largely exists to permit individuals to add music on to TikTok and earn royalties.
“The content material in query violates Spotify’s misleading content material insurance policies, which prohibit impersonation supposed to mislead, similar to replicating one other creator’s identify, picture, or description, or posing as an individual, model, or group in a misleading method,” Spotify stated in a press release.
“This isn’t allowed. We take motion in opposition to licensors and distributors who fail to police for this type of fraud and people who commit repeated or egregious violations can and have been completely faraway from Spotify.”
Spotify by no means stated how the tracks appeared on the official artist pages within the first place.
AI-generated tracks are proving simply as problematic when individuals use bots to fraudulently stream them, getting cash within the course of. One man was accused of conning music companies out of $12 million final yr by importing a whole lot of hundreds of AI tracks and utilizing a military of over 1,000 bots to “pay attention” to the music.
