Spotify has introduced a new feature called Artist Profile Protection, allowing artists to review eligible releases before they appear on your profile.
The move comes after fake or AI-generated songs have become more commonplace on artists’ profiles without their knowledge or consent.
Concerns around AI in music have consistently grown over the last year. Fake songs have appeared on the profiles of Australian acts Pond, Polaris, Northlane, Alpha Wolf, and Thy Art Is Murder.
In October, Hiatus Kaiyote’s Paul Bender launched a petition and open letter, calling on streaming services to implement a reliable authentication system to prevent fraudulent, AI-generated music uploads.
Bender explained that he’d been personally affected by fraudulent music being posted on his artist accounts.
“Earlier this year, I had four songs that were not created by me, had nothing to do with me, and sounded like AI slop uploaded to my artist profile, The Sweet Enoughs,” he said.
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“It took over eight weeks, and a lot of public pressure, to get them taken down. This issue is widespread and highlights the urgent need for better protections. We need to ensure artists maintain control over their work and that streaming platforms uphold their integrity.”
In September, Spotify announced new measures to strengthen AI protections for artists and producers.
The new measures include stricter rules against impersonation, a music spam filter, and new AI disclosures in music credits, with all expected to roll out in the coming months.
Now, Spotify has introduced additional protections for artists with its new functionality, currently available in a limited beta trial. It has introduced a “review” step before music is added to an artist’s profile—releases can be approved or declined by the artist.
“Artist Profile Protection isn’t necessary for every artist, but could make sense if you’ve experienced repeated incorrect releases, have a common artist name, or want more control over what appears on your profile,” the streaming service explained.
“It requires you to actively review releases before they go live, so may delay or block your legitimate releases if you forget to take an action. It's best for those who are comfortable very actively managing their catalog.”
Artists included in the beta will find the feature available in their Spotify for Artists settings on desktop and the mobile website. By turning on Artist Profile Protection, artists involved in the beta will receive an email notification when music is “delivered” to their profile. They can then review eligible releases and approve or deny their addition to their account.
If you’re included in the beta, you’ll see the feature available in your Spotify for Artists settings on desktop and mobile web. If you turn Artist Profile Protection on, you’ll receive an email notification when music is delivered to Spotify with your name attached.
As it’s currently a beta feature, its full functionality will be rolled out after feedback from the trial is received. After Spotify refines Artist Profile Protection during the beta, the feature will then be rolled out to all artists “as soon as we possibly can.”
Artists who opt out of the feature can still report music that’s misattributed to them here.
