Not all AI-made music will be banned on Spotify says platform boss
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The boss of Spotify says there are no plans to completely ban content created by artificial intelligence (AI) on the music streaming platform.
Spotify's boss Daniel Ek said there were valid uses of artificial intelligence in making music - but AI should not be used to impersonate human artists without their permission.
Earlier this year a track featuring AI-copied voices of Drake and The Weeknd was removed from Spotify.
Speaking to the BBC, the Spotify Boss said using AI in music was likely to be debated for "many, many years", but there are times when its use could be acceptable and times when it would not be.
For example, tools such as auto-tune, which is widely used in the music industry and alters the pitch and tone of vocals, is an acceptable use of AI-tech, he said.
Artificial intelligence - or AI for short - is technology that enables a computer to think or act in a more 'human' way. It does this by taking in information from places such as the internet.
Chief Executive Officer of Spotify Daniel Ek says AI-made music imitating existing artists will be banned on Spotify
However, Mr Ek says artificial intelligence that copies the voice of existing artist is not acceptable, but explained that it gets more complicated where music created by AI was clearly influenced by existing artists, but did not directly impersonate them.
"It is going to be tricky," he said when asked about the challenge the industry was facing.
Artificial Intelligence is able to learn from vocals and music already on the internet. At the moment, it needs help from humans who feed it examples of existing music content for the AI to learn. As AI becomes more advanced it can also gather this information for itself.
AI technology is then able to recreate melodies and voices within seconds imitating the sound of the most recognisable artists from around the world.
However, Spotify says that while AI-made music isn't totally banned, it doesn't allow artificial intelligence to use the platform as a way of gathering data to imitate artists.
The voices of Drake and The Weeknd, were impersonated in an AI-made song called Heart on My Sleeve
The song that impersonated the voices of Drake and The Weeknd, called Heart on My Sleeve first appeared on TikTok but was later removed from Spotify in April - although neither artist was aware that it existed before it was taken down.
"We have a very large team that is working on exactly these types of issues," said Mr Ek.
The song's creator, Ghostwriter, later tried to have the track nominated for a Grammy award but it was turned down and music artists are increasingly speaking out against the use of AI in the industry.
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A recent report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which works to protect the interests of the recording industry, said there are "serious concerns" among top people in music that AI could be used " to cover songs and attempt to replace artists".
Last month the Irish musician Hozier said he would consider striking over the threat of AI to his profession.
He told the BBC that he wasn't sure that AI created music "meets the definition of art".
- Published27 March 2023
