Spotify offers verified artist badges to help differentiate between humans and AI

With AI-generated artists and tracks streaming on music streaming platforms, Spotify is rolling out a new “Verified by Spotify” badge to help listeners more easily identify real human artists.

To earn the badge, artists must meet certain criteria. Spotify looks for an artist’s recognizable presence on and off the platform, such as concert dates, merch, and social accounts linked on their artist profile. Profiles that primarily represent AI-generated music or AI character artists are not eligible for verification.

In addition, artists must have sustained listening activity and engagement over time. Spotify focuses on artist profiles that people actively search for over a long period of time, rather than those who experience one-time spikes in engagement.

At launch, over 99% of artists that listeners are actively searching for will be verified. Spotify says most are independent, representing a broad mix of genres, career stages and regions.

Users will begin to see the new badges appear on artist profiles and next to artist names in search results in the coming weeks. Badges will contain the text “Verified by Spotify” along with a green check mark.

Due to the large number of profiles on the platform, Spotify says the verification process will be rolled out on an ongoing basis, and that not having a badge doesn’t mean a profile won’t receive one in the future.

Spotify prioritizes artists who have active fan interest and notable contributions to music culture, rather than so-called “functional music” creators — think algorithm-optimized background or focused playlists — whose content is designed for passive or background listening.

“We carefully designed this new verification program with listeners and artists in mind, and we will continue to evolve this program over time,” Spotify wrote in a blog post. “Our goal is to make it easier for you to trust and understand the human artistry behind the music you listen to on Spotify, and to develop meaningful, long-lasting connections with the artists and music you love.”

The platform is also launching a new profile section in beta across 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 original activity even if they haven’t yet met the verification badge criteria.

These updates mark Spotify’s latest effort to address the rise of low-quality content generated by artificial intelligence (AI slop) and copycats on its platform. Last month, the company began beta testing an “Artist Profile Protection” feature that allows artists to review releases before posting them to their profiles to give them more control over the tracks associated with their names.

Spotify launched the feature just weeks after Sony Music announced it had requested the removal of more than 135,000 AI-generated songs that impersonate its artists on streaming services.

Although Spotify hasn’t shared details about how many AI tracks are being added to its platform, rival streaming service Deezer announced last week that AI-generated tracks now account for 44% of all new music uploaded to its platform daily.