Spotify teams up with record labels on 'artist-first' AI tools

Spotify is making a new bet on AI, but this time, it’s doing it with the music industry’s biggest players by its side.

The company says it's partnering with Sony, Universal, Warner, and Merlin to co-develop “responsible AI” products that ensure artists and songwriters stay in control of their work, and get paid for it. Unlike earlier experiments that blurred ownership lines, these tools will let creators decide whether their voices or music can be used in AI-generated tracks.

It’s a notable move for Spotify, which faced criticism earlier this year after an AI-generated band went viral on its platform, sparking outrage over whether human creativity was being sidelined. The backlash prompted new AI policies last month, including stricter upload rules and clearer labeling for songs made with generative tools. Those updates, and this new alliance with record labels, have helped rebuild trust with an industry that once accused Spotify of “playing both sides.”

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Still, the idea of “artist-first” AI isn’t without risk. Critics warn these systems could become another form of corporate gatekeeping, deciding who benefits from AI and who doesn’t. And while Spotify says artists will be able to track when their work is used and receive compensation, it hasn’t detailed how those payments will work.

“Musicians’ rights matter. Copyright is essential,” Spotify said in its announcement, a rare public stance for a tech platform often accused of eroding both. Universal Music Group praised the deal as “a necessary reset” for AI in music, one that could finally align innovation with human creativity.

For now, Spotify’s AI research lab is quietly developing the first tools under these new principles. But as the line between human and machine-made music blurs, one question lingers: when AI starts co-writing hits, who gets to call it art, and who gets paid for it?

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