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If a song was created by artificial intelligence and listened to by a bot, was it even listened to in the first place? This is the problem facing music streaming companies right now, as it is rapidly becoming easier to stream and earn cash.
“This is a floodgate,” says Tony Rigg, a lecturer in music industry management at the University of Central Lancashire in England. He talks about the arrival of AI-generated music. And the torrent of new music amplifies the problem of false hearing, giving people an easy way to get low-quality tracks streaming.
Artificial streaming, or bot listening, is nothing new. Some even ask bot-created accounts to listen to the same playlists repeatedly, relying on third-party companies that promise to increase their streams. This is a problem because streaming companies split royalty payments out of their limited funds, meaning that the more a song is played, the more money the creator makes. So, more money being paid for songs that bots listen to may mean less money going to songs that have human fans. Human artists are already embroiled in artificial streaming scandals, but AI is adding a new element.
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The first big test case came last week when Spotify reportedly removed tens of thousands of songs created by AI music generator Boomy and uploaded to Spotify. These make up only a small portion of Boomy’s overall production, according to the company, but included songs that were suspected of being streamed by bots. financial times. Spotify did not respond to a request for comment to confirm the removal, but the platform has a policy against fake streaming.
Boomy uploads to Spotify were suspended last week, but resumed May 6th. Alex Mitchell, his CEO and founder of Boomy, said the company is “absolutely against any type of manipulation or artificial streaming.” Mitchell also said Boomy has a system in place to respond to suspicious streaming notifications sent by streaming companies and freeze payments for users who may be manipulating the system for profit. He also said it could be blocked. But the large number of artificial listeners still able to get through before being arrested shows just how big these scams have gotten.
Fake streaming is an industry-wide problem that extends beyond AI-generated music. Of all music streamed on various popular platforms in France in 2021, 1-3 percent will be streamed by bots, according to a study by the French National Music Center, a public-private organization focused on the French music industry. was detected. It accounts for an estimated 1-3 billion fake streams.
The competition to acquire listeners is fierce. Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify have him over 100 million songs, many of which are rarely played. With rapid advances in generative AI, a large number of new songs are expected to hit streaming platforms.
And like many other things in generative AI, it’s happening rapidly. Last month, a song mimicking the voices of Drake and The Weeknd went viral and booted from Spotify. As technology becomes more persuasive, more and more people are being duped through impersonation. Scammers allegedly used AI to generate new songs with Frank Ocean’s voice, sell them to fans for thousands of dollars, and entice people with the promise of leaking the songs.
Some artists are incorporating AI.Last week, Grimes announced Singer Holly Herndon deepfakes her voice to “sing” in a language she doesn’t learn. made it possible.
Universal Music Group, home to some of the world’s greatest musicians, has vigorously opposed AI training for artists’ work, citing potential copyright infringement. But artists themselves could start using AI to manipulate their own voices, reducing the labor and financial investment required to produce new music, said the lawyer and owner of a music and entertainment management company. says Albert Soller. “AI creates huge income opportunities that don’t exist today, and artists don’t have to do anything to get there,” he says. The technology could help artists make money in the recording and streaming industries, which often exploit them, but it could also compound the problem of derivative songs.
But every artist faces man-made tracks like Frank Ocean dupes and man-made streaming bots, both of which undermine the music industry’s credibility. Time is limited and options are endless, so people may choose a song by their favorite artist or because it’s popular on a streaming service. But when those streams are deceptive or the music isn’t from imitating performers, attention is diverted from the real artists. Fake streams determine popularity and can distort algorithms that recommend music to listeners, Rigg said.
The whole creative industry is undermined when bots are listening to music that is primarily made by bots. Artists are being relegated to major streaming platforms to earn pittance royalties from their recorded work. But they struggle to maintain the way generative AI is uprooting the music industry. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek also admitted last month that “I haven’t seen anything move as fast as AI advances.” If Spotify doesn’t catch up, it’s the human artists who will be left behind.
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