As AI-generated musician images and songs continue to flood streaming platforms, Spotify recently announced the launch of a new "Verified by Spotify" certification mark, designed to help listeners more easily identify real human artists.
According to information released by Spotify, in order to obtain this certification mark, artists must meet a series of conditions. The platform will examine whether it has a clear and identifiable real presence on and off the site, such as whether there are performance dates, peripheral merchandise sales, and whether a social media account is bound to the artist's homepage. Accounts that focus on AI-generated music or AI personality images as their core will not be eligible for certification.
In addition to identity recognition, Spotify also requires relevant artists to have stable listener activity and interaction performance over a sustained period of time. The platform emphasizes that the focus of certification will be on those artists who are actively searched and followed by users for a long time, rather than accounts that only attract attention due to short-term traffic surges.
Spotify said that in the initial launch of this feature, more than 99% of most artists actively searched by users will have a certification mark. Most of them are independent musicians, covering different genres, career stages and geographical distribution.
Over the coming weeks, users will begin to see the new logo next to the artist’s name on artist profiles and in search results. The logo will read "Verified by Spotify" and feature a green check mark.
However, Spotify also pointed out that due to the large amount of artist information on the platform, the certification work will be gradually carried out in a continuous manner. Just because an account does not display the certification mark temporarily does not mean that it will not be certified in the future.
In terms of certification priority, Spotify will prefer artists who have active fan attention and have made obvious contributions to music culture, rather than so-called "functional music" creators. The latter usually refers to content such as background music and focused music produced around algorithm optimization. Such works are more oriented to passive playback or companion listening scenarios.
Spotify stated in an official blog that this new certification program was designed and launched after fully considering the needs of listeners and artists, and will continue to be iterated and improved in the future. The platform hopes to make it easier for users to trust and understand the human creative subjects behind the music they listen to on Spotify, and to further establish long-term and meaningful connections with their favorite artists and works.
In addition to the certification logo, Spotify has also simultaneously tested and launched a new artist homepage information module, which is currently launched in a beta version on all artist profile pages. This module will showcase the artist's career milestones, releases and touring activities. Spotify said that even if some artists have not yet reached certification standards, users can use this section to quickly understand their true activity.
The update is the latest in Spotify's recent efforts to combat low-quality AI-generated content and imposter issues. Just last month, the company began testing a new feature called "Artist Profile Protection," which allows artists to gain greater control over which songs are associated with their name by reviewing them before they officially appear on their homepage.
The background for Spotify's advancement of these measures is that the entire streaming media industry is facing the reality of the rapid expansion of AI music content. Just a few weeks ago, Sony Music said it had asked multiple streaming services to remove more than 135,000 AI-generated songs impersonating its artists. Although Spotify has not disclosed the specific scale of new AI tracks added to the platform, its competitor Deezer revealed last week that AI-generated content now accounts for 44% of the music newly uploaded to the platform every day.