A new decision brings advantages, but could also have an impact on streaming revenue.
The music streaming service Spotify wants to work with major record labels to find a way to fairly incorporate artificial intelligence into the songwriting process.
Editorial recommendations
The previous plan
It is still unclear what these AI tools should look like in detail. However, one thing is already clear for Spotify: the tools should be developed in such a way that songwriters and artists come first and their copyrights are protected. According to the Swedish company, rights holders should be “appropriately compensated for the use of their works” and “transparently credited” for their contributions. This should be regulated through “advance agreements”. According to co-president Alex Norström, technology should serve artists – not the other way around. Artists can probably decide in advance whether a generative AI can use the content or not.
Contributors to the project
Spotify will license music from the three most influential record labels in the industry, the company announced in a press release. These are Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. Other partners in the project include the music rights company Merlin and the digital music company Believe.
Current use of artificial intelligence in the music creation process
According to Spotify, AI is already being used in areas such as auto-tuning, mixing and mastering. An AI tool was also used for the posthumously released Beatles song “Now And Then” to clean up an old voice recording of John Lennon. The song was released in 2023 and even won a Grammy. However, Spotify recently removed 75 million tracks from its database because the company recognized them as AI content.
Divided opinions on the topic
Ed Newton-Rex, founder of Fairly Trained – an organization that works to protect copyrights when dealing with AI – sees the project as positive. Spotify’s approach is “a step towards an ethical AI industry.” This is “urgently necessary” alongside “exploitative” players who use content without artists’ consent and profit from it.
Critics of artificial intelligence, however, fear that greater use of AI on the platform could lead to even lower streaming income for human artists.