Kokcha News Agency: Spotify is under fire once again for allegedly publishing AI-composed songs under the names of deceased artists. According to an investigation by 404 Media, one of the most notable examples is the song “Together,” released under the profile of country musician Blake Foley, who was murdered in 1989.
The song does not reflect Foley’s musical style, and its cover art features a young blonde man who has no connection to Foley. The track was traced back to a Spotify-affiliated account named Syntax Error, which has previously been linked to other fake songs.
A similar case involves Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Guy Clark, who passed away in 2016. The song “Happened To You” was also linked to the Syntax Error account. These incidents have raised serious questions about Spotify’s system for monitoring AI-generated music.
Spotify removed the fake content shortly after the news broke, but this is not the first time such an issue has occurred. In recent months, there has been a growing number of AI-generated tracks on Spotify being presented as if they were created by real artists.
Rise of AI-Generated Music Without Transparency
According to Tech Times, earlier this month, an AI-generated group named Velvet Sundown went viral on Spotify. Their song “Dust on the Wind,” which bears a striking resemblance to Kansas’ 1977 hit of the same name, has garnered nearly 2 million streams since its release on June 20.
Although the group’s bio describes it as a “synthetic music project,” Spotify does not label the tracks as “AI-generated,” leading to potential deception of listeners.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has previously expressed support for AI-generated music but emphasized that such content should not directly copy real artists. However, the platform’s inconsistent handling of the issue has caused growing concern in the music industry.
Strong Reaction from the Music Industry: “Human Creativity Under Threat”
Sophie Jones, Strategy Director at the British Phonographic Industry, told The Guardian that AI models are being trained on copyrighted music without permission or payment to artists. Jones warned that this practice directly threatens human creativity.
According to Jones, technology companies are turning a blind eye to these AI music projects, placing them in direct competition with human artists. This not only impacts streaming and royalty revenues but also damages artists’ reputations.
Deezer Takes Steps Toward Transparency
Industry representatives are calling on Spotify and similar platforms to clearly label AI-generated content. French music platform Deezer has taken the first step by developing a special algorithm capable of detecting music produced by AI software like Suno and Udio.
The music industry hopes similar measures will be adopted by other platforms.
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