AI songs are infiltrating Spotify - here's why it's an issue for fans and creators

If you've fired up Spotify over the last few weeks, you might have noticed something strange on your release radar -- a surprise new album from your favorite band. But, if you opened it, the songs probably sounded totally off. Unfortunately, you're likely listening to AI.

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Thousands of AI-produced songs have appeared on Spotify, with some showing up on real band pages. While the artist's name is the same, the graphics don't align with the band brands, and the music sounds nothing like it should.

Here's what's happening.

Fake record labels like Beat Street Music (which has thousands of songs on the streaming platform at the moment) are uploading AI-created albums to Spotify. The generic songs have a random, one-word artist name that sometimes coincides with a real artist name. Spotify thinks the album belongs to the real artist and places it on that band's page. 

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Mid-size or smaller artists seem to be the most affected. A Reddit user pointed out albums attributed to Cyclops, Maze, and Wilkinson, all from the same composer, and a former Spotify analyst posted examples of X of albums called Girls, Asia, Gong, Space, and Yes -- all one-word names.

The creator's intent likely isn't to pose as those bands, so it's tough to call this a scam (there are plenty of AI scams, however). Instead, the creators are trying to upload thousands of songs under thousands of names, get a fraction of a penny from each play, and possibly rack up a little cash. Still, it's certainly frustrating for artists who these songs are misrepresenting, and the fans of these songs are deceiving.

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Spotify says it's taking down the songs when artists report them, but for some bands who reported the problem, it took at least a month to correct.