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Spotify announced Thursday that it is partnering with . sony music group, universal music group, warner music groupas well as independent licensing agency Merlin and digital music company Believe, will develop “responsible” artificial intelligence products.
Spotify did not confirm the specific AI tools in development, but said in a release that it is making “significant investments in AI research and product development,” including a new AI research lab and product team.
“AI is the most important technology change since the smartphone, and it is already reshaping the way music is made and experienced,” co-president Gustav Söderström said in a statement. “At Spotify, we want to work hand in hand with the music industry to build this future, based on clear principles and deep respect for creators, just as we did in the era of piracy.”
Spotify said it hopes to add more rights holders and distributors in the future.
The company is already building AI features into its apps, including AI DJ and AI Playlists, which launched in beta in September, to generate personalized playlists using written prompts.
Amid the AI boom, the entertainment industry is increasingly concerned about the harmful use of AI that violates artists’ copyrights.
UMG CEO Sir Lucien Grainge sent a memo to staff on Monday saying the company “does not license any model” that uses an artist’s voice or produces songs that incorporate an artist’s music without permission.
“Working with strategic partners like Spotify is essential to bringing Gen AI products to life in a commercial environment where artists, songwriters, fans, music companies, and technology companies can all thrive,” Grainge said in a statement.
The partnership comes less than a month after Spotify cracked down on AI “cutting” amid the growing threat of AI-generated viral music. The streaming platform has removed more than 75 million “spam tracks” in the past 12 months and rolled out policies to protect artists from AI impersonation and deception.
AI-generated band The Velvet Sundown made headlines this summer with 1 million monthly listeners. The band, which later identified themselves as a “synthetic music project” on their profile page, is now a verified artist on Spotify with more than 264,000 monthly listeners.
Spotify outlined four principles that this collaboration will focus on: partnerships with record labels, distributors and music publishers, choice of participation, fair compensation and new revenue, and artist-fan connections.
“Musicians’ rights are important,” Spotify said in a release. “Copyright is essential. If the music industry doesn’t lead this moment, AI-powered innovation will happen elsewhere without rights, consent, or compensation.”
The streaming giant has also faced backlash after Chief Executive Daniel Ek, who will step down next year, led a €600 million funding round for defense technology startup Hellsing in June.
Musicians include King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, Xiu Xiu, Deerhoof, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and, more recently, Massive Attack have removed their catalogs from Spotify in protest.
“‘Daniel Ek uses Spotify’s $700 million fortune to become chairman of AI battle technology company’ was not a fun headline for us to read this week,” Deerhoef wrote in a statement on Instagram. “We don’t want to kill people with our music. We don’t want our success to be tied to AI battle technology.”
