Tag: spotify
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Spotify Has an AI Music Problem—but Bots Love It
Spotify Purges Thousands of AI Songs to Stop Bots From Streaming Them
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Spotify recently purged tens of thousands of AI-generated songs from its vast digital music library. The problem doesn’t appear to have been the songs themselves—which were generated using a proprietary AI software. Instead, Spotify was concerned about the listeners—who, as it turns out, were also generated by software…
Spotify Ejects Thousands of AI-made Songs in Purge of Fake Streams
The Boomy songs were removed because of suspected “artificial streaming” — online bots posing as human listeners to inflate the audience numbers for certain songs. AI has made this type of activity easier because it allows someone to instantly generate many music tracks, which can then be uploaded online and streamed. Boomy, which was launched two years ago, allows users to choose various styles or descriptors, such as “rap beats” or “rainy nights,” to create a machine-generated track. Users can then release the music to streaming services, where they will generate royalty payments. California-based Boomy says its users have created more than 14mn songs.
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Spotify removes thousands of AI-generated songs
Bots beware, Spotify is cracking down on artificial streaming.
Spotify took down tens of thousands of songs created by artificial-intelligence startup Boomy, reports Financial Times. The streaming giant removed the songs after Universal Music flagged the songs for suspicious streaming activity. The songs were withdrawn from the platform because of suspected use of bots to inflate streams, a practice known as artificial streaming.
While AI anxiety has been rising in the music industry, particularly over copyright concerns, these takedowns were not directly related to the methods used to generate the songs, but rather how they got their streaming counts.
Boomy launched two years ago and allows users to produce AI-generated music based on styles and descriptors like “meditation” or “lofibeats.” Then users can upload Boomy created tracks to streaming platforms and earn royalties off of them. According to its website, Boomy has produced over 14.5 million songs which they say is nearly 14% of the world’s recorded music. Spotify reportedly took down 7% of Boomy’s tracks.
“Artificial streaming is a longstanding, industry-wide issue that Spotify is working to stamp out across our service,” Spotify told The Financial Times.
In Spotify’s quarterly financial call in April, CEO Daniel Elk described AI-generated music as “cool and scary” and remarked that it “could be potentially huge for creativity.” But Elk also noted that the music industry has “legitimate concerns” about the rise of AI-generated music and said, “We’re working with our partners on trying to establish a position where we both allow innovation but, at the same time, protect all of the creators that we have on our platform.”
This takedown comes a month after Universal called for streaming services to crack down on AI-generated music because of copyright concerns. Just after, music execs nightmares came true when an AI-generated Drake and The Weeknd collab, “Heart On My Sleeve” went viral on TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube. While the track was removed from streaming platforms due to copyright infringements, it brought forth a new wave of AI anxiety.
Tracks from AI music platform Boomy removed from Spotify because of stream manipulation, not any anti-AI agenda
Spotify Tries To Win Indie Authors By Cutting Audiobook Fees
The margins on audiobooks are exceptionally high, much to the chagrin of the authors. For example, Audible takes 75 percent of retail sales (though it’ll only take 60 percent with an exclusivity contract). Many authors share royalties with their narrators and have to pay production fees — meaning they get an even smaller share of royalties. The move by Spotify and Findaway is likely a bid to draw more indie authors from Audible, which is currently its biggest competitor. But Spotify’s audiobooks business — which it launched last fall — still has a long way to go. Unlike music or podcasts, most audiobooks on Spotify must be purchased individually, and sales are restricted to its web version. Even CEO Daniel Ek admitted that the current process of buying an audiobook through Spotify is “pretty horrible.” “We at Spotify are just at the beginning of our journey supporting independent authors — we have many plans for how to help authors expand their reach, maximize revenue, and ultimately build a strong audiobooks business,” said Audiobook’s communications chief, Laura Pezzini.
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