Spotify has removed more than 50 million tracks from its recommendation systems after classifying them as spam or low-quality artificial content, as the streaming platform moves to sharpen music discovery and give greater prominence to human artists.

The company announced the measure on 20 October, framing it as part of a broader overhaul of its content selection and recommendation rules. The action comes as the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence in music production raises mounting concerns over track quality, repetitive content distribution, and the gaming of digital platform promotion mechanisms.

To identify suspect content, Spotify says it combines multiple signals: listener reactions, user reports, upload patterns, track metadata, and third-party AI detection tools.

The company has also adjusted its music discovery criteria and editorial selection standards to limit exposure to content flagged as spam or artificially produced at low quality. According to the platform, these changes have already produced a significant reduction in listener complaints about such music appearing in recommendations.

Among the new measures is an ‘AI Persona’ badge, which flags artists whose identities are entirely artificial and bear no correspondence to real people. Tracks associated with these profiles are excluded from Spotify’s recommendation systems.

The initiative extends a pattern of action against music spam. In 2025, Spotify announced it had removed more than 75 million tracks identified as spam, in an effort to curb abusive practices and improve the user experience.

Other platforms have adopted comparable measures. YouTube Music has begun labelling AI-produced content, while Deezer offers tools that allow users to filter out such music.

Despite the tightened controls, Spotify is not seeking to exclude AI from music creation altogether. The company maintains active collaborations with Universal Music Group and independent label Believe to develop AI-powered remix creation tools.

The moves reflect a broader effort by streaming platforms to draw a line between abusive or low-quality content and legitimate creative uses of AI, as automated production tools exercise growing influence over the global music market.

Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/?p=554272