Robert Triggs / Android Authority
I’m old enough to remember a time before Spotify heralded the golden age of music discovery. Even the early beta catalog gave me access to far more music than I could ever hope to fit on my iPod Nano, and, more importantly, made discovering new artists and exploring new genres unbelievably easy. Many of us probably owe a huge debt to streaming platforms for shaping our musical tastes and expanding our libraries.
While the music streaming space has grown with both bigger libraries and a variety of new players, many of today’s top streaming platforms are quickly morphing into the very antithesis of the formula that made them such a game-changer. Unsurprisingly, it’s driven by that most modern of problems: AI slop.
I was not the least bit surprised to read this week’s report that YouTube Music is serving up AI-generated spam — to Premium subscribers no less. For better or worse (definitely worse), AI-generated music is here to stay, but the issue reminds me of Spotify’s “fake-artist” controversy, where it was claimed the company commissions music to stuff into their curated playlists, essentially supplanting real musicians with cheaper, stock music.
Are you hearing AI-generated music on your streaming platforms? 80 votes Yes 31 % No 48 % I have no idea if there is any. 21 %
The cynical rationale is straightforward: platforms pay significantly fewer royalties — or none at all — for commissioned works. If even a fraction of a playlist consists of cheap filler, platforms can save significant sums and boost profits for every hour listened. AI-generated filler is an even better potential revenue stream, as the commission cost is low and AI’s regression to the mean makes it very appealing for hidden filler that blends in.
However, potential playlist stuffing is just a minor concern in the modern music landscape; producers are pumping out AI-generated tunes for a quick buck, and some synthetic artists are even ranking on the Billboard charts. At least some platforms, such as Deezer, now tag AI-generated tracks, and Spotify has implemented new policies to protect artists against impersonation. Still, we’re increasingly exposed to music that isn’t produced by real people, and this trend is likely to worsen.
Regardless of what you think about the quality of AI-generated music, I believe we can probably agree that being recommended this nonsense defeats one of streaming’s primary perks: real music discovery. You can’t go and see an AI musician live; they probably don’t have much in the way of a back catalog worth exploring, and let’s not forget the circular stupidity of algorithmic recommendations based on listening habits that include AI-generated tracks. You listened to this AI musician? Here’s another one just like it. It’s a highway to hell.
You don’t have to be a serious music fan to worry about what all this means for real art, though it is all the more concerning if you have a genuine interest in reveling in the talents of your contemporaries. If any of this bothers you, it might be time to seriously consider reverting to the old ways of supporting real artists more directly, by owning your own music collection and taking a more manual approach to finding new material.
It’s never been easier to stop renting and start owning
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