Spotify’s CEO, Daniel Ek, has revealed that there will be no complete ban on AI-generated content within the music streaming platform.
Earlier this year, the platform removed a track featuring AI-cloned voices of Drake and The Weeknd.
In an interview with the BBC, Ek states that there are valid applications of AI in music creation. However, he emphasizes that AI should not be used to impersonate human artists without their consent.
He anticipates that the debate over AI in music will continue for many years. Ek categorizes AI use into three “buckets”:
Tools like auto-tune that enhance music, which he finds acceptable.
Tools that mimic artists, which he opposes.
A middle ground where AI-created music is influenced by existing artists but doesn’t directly impersonate them, which remains a contentious issue.
“It is going to be tricky,” he said when asked about the challenge the industry was facing.
While Spotify doesn’t impose a complete ban on AI in all forms, the platform does prohibit the use of its content to train machine learning or AI models capable of creating music.
Increasingly, artists are expressing concerns about AI’s role in the creative industries. Irish musician Hozier, for instance, mentioned that he would contemplate taking action against the perceived threat of AI to his profession. He questioned whether the technology truly qualifies as “art.”
In the case of the song “Heart on My Sleeve,” which featured cloned versions of Drake and The Weeknd’s voices without their awareness, it was removed from Spotify and other streaming platforms in April. Its creator, Ghostwriter, later attempted to have the track nominated for a Grammy award but was unsuccessful.
“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,” Mr Ek said.
“We have a very large team that is working on exactly these types of issues.”
In May, the Financial Times revealed that Spotify had removed thousands of tracks due to the discovery of bots artificially inflating their streaming numbers.
Daniel Ek also addressed Spotify’s substantial investment in podcasts, including those featuring prominent individuals like Michelle and Barack Obama, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. However, neither of these podcasts has been renewed.
The deal with Harry and Meghan reportedly amounted to $25 million (£18 million) and resulted in only 12 episodes being delivered over two and a half years. A Spotify executive recently made disparaging remarks about the work ethic of the royal couple.
“The truth of the matter is some of it has worked, some of it hasn’t,” said Mr Ek of the firm’s decision to “challenge Apple” as the market-leading podcast platform by taking on a lot of new creators.
“Five years ago Spotify was nowhere in podcasting.”