Spotify cracks down on AI-generated music streaming fraud

Spotify is battling an industry-wide problem of bot farms playing the same tracks repeatedly to manipulate streaming data. With generative AI tools becoming more mainstream, the music industry is experiencing a new dimension to the problem. This requires streaming service providers to predict and plan ahead to avoid paying large sums of money for millions of bot-boosted fake streams. Fake stream farms are an ongoing issue, affecting data-driven features such as charts and playlists. Last week, Spotify temporarily removed hundreds of thousands of songs generated on the AI platform Boomy due to suspicious listening activity. The two sides are still in negotiations over the rest of Boomy's catalogue. Grimes has launched an AI platform for people to use her voice to make new music, standing alone in the pro-generative AI camp amidst the global artist community. According to France's Centre National de la Musique, in 2021 between 1% and 3% of total listening was false. A new study will launch in 2024, which may reveal the implications of the recent revolution in access to generative AI and Spotify's ability to mitigate it.