As artists and tracks created by artificial intelligence flood music streaming platforms, Spotify is introducing a new “Spotify Verified” badge to help listeners more easily identify authentic human artists.
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To receive the badge, artists must meet certain criteria. Spotify looks for a recognizable artist presence both on and off the platform, such as concert dates, merchandise, and connected social accounts on the artist’s profile. Profiles that primarily represent AI-generated music or AI-powered artists are not eligible for verification.
Additionally, artists must have consistent listener activity and interaction over time. Spotify focuses on artist profiles that people actively seek out over an extended period, rather than those that experience one-time spikes in engagement.
At launch, more than 99% of the artists that listeners actively search for will be verified. Most are independent, representing a broad mix of genres, career stages and regions, according to Spotify.
Users will start seeing the new badges appear on artist profiles and next to artist names in search results in the coming weeks. The badges will include the text “Verified by Spotify” along with a green checkmark.
Given the huge number of profiles on the platform, Spotify states that verification will be rolled out on an ongoing basis, and the absence of a badge does not mean that a profile will not receive it in the future.
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Spotify prioritizes artists with active fan engagement and notable contributions to music culture, rather than so-called “functional music” creators—those whose content is intended for passive or background listening.
The platform is also launching a new profile section in beta on all artist profiles that will highlight career milestones, release activity, and touring activity. Spotify says this section will give users a quick way to see an artist’s authentic activity even if they don’t yet meet the criteria for a verification badge.
These updates mark Spotify’s latest efforts to combat the rise of low-quality AI-generated content and copycats on its platform. Last month, the company began beta testing an “Artist Profile Protection” feature that allows artists to review releases before they become available on their profiles to give them more control over the tracks associated with their name.
Spotify launched the feature a few weeks after Sony Music that it had requested the removal of more than 135,000 songs created by artificial intelligence and imitating its artists from the streaming services.
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While Spotify has not shared specific figures on the number of AI-generated tracks added to its platform, rival streaming service Deezer announced last week that AI-generated tracks now account for 44% of new music uploaded to its platform daily.
