Spotify AI uploads

A live performance from Motograter, another victim of what appears to be an unauthorized AI upload on Spotify. Photo Credit: James Stein

Unauthorized “AI slop” uploads are continuing to pour onto proper artists’ Spotify accounts – with Here We Go Magic, Speech Patterns, a picture of her, and Weishan Liu among the latest victims.

Unlike Deezer, Spotify has thus far resisted calls to tag AI tracks accordingly. And for obvious reasons, uploaders themselves aren’t in a hurry to identify audio as machine made and remain a bit touchy about being associated with “AI slop” in the media.

But it isn’t too hard to spot AI songs. In the first place, much of the audio is devoid of artistic merit and therefore painful on the ears. Additionally, many of the relevant “artists” lack socials and websites, have AI-generated profile pictures (several tools say they can identify AI images), and are pumping out multiple albums per month.

With all that in mind, it’s ticked-off fans who are criticizing works as “AI slop” on Reddit; DMN is simply reporting on their exact words and their justifiable frustration with the ocean of AI audio that’s overwhelming DSPs.

Furthermore, while said frustration frequently targets the wider AI avalanche, perhaps the most vocal pushback is coming from diehards whose favorite artists’ Spotify pages are adding new and apparently unauthorized tracks.

An EDM album previously arrived on Anthrax’s Spotify account, for instance, with the alleged goal being to capitalize on the existing fanbase (and algorithmic positioning) to rack up streams and pocket royalties. Other seemingly unauthorized uploads have been described as “AI slop” after hitting different pages.

Now, amid an intensifying AI music explosion, distributors and Spotify evidently have yet to find a solution to the pernicious problem, which appears unlikely to abate on its own.  

NPR covered an unauthorized track on the Spotify profile of Here We Go Magic. With a solid following in place – and with its last official project having released a decade ago – the Secretly Canadian act was (and is) evidently a prime target for alleged “AI slop.”

Though Spotify proceeded to boot the track, unauthorized projects are alive and well elsewhere, annoyed fans are emphasizing on Reddit. First, three total albums (released between 1996 and 2007) are attributed to “guzheng master performer, composer and educator” Weishan Liu on YouTube and Apple Music.

But on Spotify, the professional’s account features another nine albums, all “released” during the past two or so months. On Deezer, each of these albums is labeled as including “tracks detected as AI-generated,” Digital Music News confirmed.

Next, a country track has since October 25th been drawing streams and new fans away from “genre-defying (and lineup shifting) metal outfit” Motograter. Interestingly, the song, “Let It Roll,” doesn’t currently have an AI tag on Deezer; one Redditor believes that the “AI song sounds so bad,” however.

Other allegedly unauthorized AI tracks are diverting attention from Coal Chamber (“Fire Grows Low”), a picture of her (“Peace and Love”), and Speech Patterns (the Johnny Cash soundalike “Ring of Grace and Fire”), to name a few. As things stand, the releases aren’t tagged as AI outputs on Deezer.