Spotify to introduce AI badge after fans make feelings 'clear'

AI-generated music has long been a concern for fans and artists.

Musician Alex Winn tells BBC Newsbeat he thinks the incoming feature is a "really good thing".

"It almost separates the people who have created music properly from the people just using AI," says guitarist Winn, who plays in the North East band Swindled.

The musician feels people want to "connect emotionally with music" and he thinks "AI can't really do that".

The 19-year-old also says having the AI label will help people make an informed choice about their listening habits, and he hopes it will redirect users to other artists and help level the playing field.

"Bands are finding it hard to compete no matter what, nevermind with some AI bands taking over," he says.

Music fan Leon Keenan thinks AI music shouldn't be removed completely from Spotify, but agrees that clearly labelling it is a "really good" idea.

"I definitely don't like AI music, it's really bad, music is about the passion," the 20-year-old adds.

Ellie Sumner, 21, also welcomes the new label as she says she has not realised work was AI-generated before.

"It's very easy to be like 'AI is so obvious' and maybe look down on my parents and grandparents falling for it, but I've definitely fallen for AI before," she says.

"It's sad that we have to label it, but also quite necessary."

The badge will appear on the banner and about section of artist profiles, as well as a note when they come up in searches and on tracks in playlists.

Artists with the badge will not appear in users' personalised recommendations unless they already follow them, Spotify says.

The streamer also says the badge will relate to the "artist's public identity" and not about "how the music was made", acknowledging that AI tools are being used in some human music creation now.

Musicians can currently be transparent about the AI tools they've used when making their tracks through the AI Credits feature, with Spotify saying they get tens of thousands of submissions for this daily.

Spotify hopes AI profiles will self-disclose in the same way, but it will also be reviewing accounts which appear to meet the criteria.

Those which are then labelled with the AI Persona badge by the streamer will be given the chance to self-disclose or appeal the decision.

It will be noted on the badge if an artist was transparent about being AI-generated, or if Spotify had to review the account.

Reporting from BBC News contributed to this story.