Spotify will not ban music made by AI, says boss Daniel Ek
Spotify has no plans to completely ban AI-generated content from the platform, according to boss Daniel Ek.
Earlier this year, a fake collaboration between Drake and The Weeknd was removed from the streaming service as well as other sites like Apple Music, Tidal and YouTube. The song, titled ‘Heart On My Sleeve’, reportedly generated 20million streams overall in under 48 hours.
During a new interview with BBC News, Ek claimed there were valid uses of artificial intelligence in making music.
However, he said the technology should not be used to impersonate real artists without their consent – as was the case with the faux, unauthorised team-up between Drake and The Weeknd.
Ek said that the technique of using AI in music was likely to be debated for “many, many years” to come, and explained that he believes there are three “buckets” of AI use:
- tools like auto-tune to improve music, which he believed were acceptable
- tools that mimic human artists, which were not
- a more contentious middle ground where music created by AI was clearly influenced by existing acts but did not directly impersonate them
When asked about the challenge the industry is facing in regulating the use of artificial intelligence, Ek responded: “It is going to be tricky.”
He said: “You can imagine someone uploading a song, claiming to be Madonna, even if they’re not. We’ve seen pretty much everything in the history of Spotify at this point with people trying to game our system.
“We have a very large team that is working on exactly these types of issues.”
AI is not banned in all forms on Spotify, but the platform currently does not allow its content to be used to train a machine or AI model, the likes of which can then produce music.
The aforementioned AI track mimicking Drake and The Weeknd was submitted for Grammy consideration in two categories: Best Rap Song and Song Of The Year – both of which go to the writer of a song, not the performer.
‘Heart On My Sleeve’, written and produced by the anonymous producer Ghostwriter, was initially said to be eligible on creative grounds because it was an original composition written and recorded by a human.
But one of the requirements for submission was that the song must be “available nationwide via brick-and-mortar stores, third-party online retailers and/or streaming services”.
This term came as a stumbling block due to the collaboration being banned by the Universal Music Group (UMG) shortly after it first surfaced online.
The Recording Academy’s chief executive, Harvey Mason Jr., subsequently confirmed that the song would not be eligible for Grammy consideration.
“Let me be extra, extra clear, even though it was written by a human creator, the vocals were not legally obtained, the vocals were not cleared by the label or the artists and the song is not commercially available and because of that, it’s not eligible.”
He added: “I take this [AI] stuff very seriously. It’s all complicated, and it’s moving, really, really quickly. I’m sure things are going to continue to have to evolve and change. But please, please, do not be confused.
“The Academy is here to support and advocate and protect and represent human artists, and human creators period.”
Ek’s most recent comments on the matter come after the Council Of Music Makers (CMM) published five fundamental rules they want companies to embrace when it comes to developing AI music technologies.
Back in August, Hozier said he would consider striking over the threat that artificial intelligence poses to the music industry.
It came amid the ongoing US actors and writers’ strikes, through which workers in the TV and film are fighting for better contracts and protection against the use of AI.
There has been an influx of music-orientated AI projects since the rise of ChatGPT including a fake “lost” Oasis album. Elsewhere, Paul McCartney said that artificial intelligence had allowed him to create a “final” Beatles song.
Bad Seeds frontman Nick Cave previously described the concept as “a grotesque mockery of what it is to be human”, and later stated that he wanted AI platforms like ChatGPT to “fuck off and leave songwriting alone”.
Other artists to have weighed in on the issue include Noel Gallagher, Sting and Grimes. The latter singer has given fans permission to use her voice on AI-created tracks, and suggested that Spotify introduce a section for music generated by the tech.
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Tom Skinner
NME
