Spotify to Label AI Artists on the Platform With New ‘AI Persona’ Badge

Spotify has announced the creation of a new label that will be applied to AI-generated artists and begin rolling out in mid-September. Music from artists bearing the label, called “AI Persona,” will not be included in personalized recommendations on the platform.

Creators can begin disclosing that an artist profile is AI-generated starting Tuesday (Aug. 11). Spotify won’t solely rely on voluntary disclosures, however, as the streaming platform will also review accounts. For accounts that Spotify labels as AI, artists will have the opportunity to either self-disclose or appeal.

According to a press release, the badge will also display whether the artist transparently shared that they are AI-generated or if Spotify reviewed the account and tagged it as AI. The company adds that it will provide listeners with the opportunity to report accounts as AI within the coming months.

The new badge is specifically focused on the public identity of an artist rather than how a specific song was made. In April, Spotify launched the AI credits tool, initially provided only to Distrokid users, which allows artists to disclose which parts of a song utilized AI. Later that same month, it announced “Verified by Spotify,” a new verification badge used to distinguish human artists. In March, the platform also rolled out an optional feature, Artist Profile Protection, which allows artists to review releases before they appear on their profile in an effort to guard against generative AI spam.

The recorded music industry has been calling for more guardrails around AI disclosures in recent months. In July, the RIAA, IFPI, the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) and other music industry organizations proposed the creation of two tags: “AI-generated,” for songs that are largely built with AI, and “AI-assisted,” for songs that incorporate AI in some parts but in which humans still take the lead. Later that month, a group of labels including Universal Music Group (UMG), Warner Music Group (WMG), Sony Music, HYBE, Believe and Concord proposed a set of eligibility guidelines for AI-generated songs to be included on music charts. The following day, IFPI said it would adopt the principles for a number of charts it directly manages globally.

As Spotify works to increase transparency around AI usage in songs and on artist profiles, it also recently announced partnerships with Universal Music Group (UMG) and Merlin to allow for AI remixing of songs, effectively allowing users to create AI remixes and covers of songs by participating artists signed to labels under the UMG and Merlin umbrellas. Remixing capabilities will be made available as a paid add-on for premium subscribers.

This article was first published by Billboard Pro.