- Spotify has announced a new music approval system called Artist Profile Protection
- Allows artists to approve or reject music releases before they appear on their profile.
- New system aims to prevent fraudulent transmissions and AI impersonation
Spotify has received its fair share of scrutiny from loyal but frustrated subscribers who are tired of the AI-generated music plaguing Discover Weekly and Release Radar, and now the music streaming platform is taking its first big step toward conquering this with a ‘one-of-a-kind solution.’
Spotify, which launched in beta today (March 24), announced Artist Profile Protection, a new opt-in system that gives artists direct control over new music that appears under their name and profile. Basically, it’s an approval stage that allows artists to review eligible music releases before uploading them to Spotify, protecting them from AI spoofing and ensuring listeners are streaming legitimate music.
“Music has landed on the wrong artist pages on streaming services, and the rise of easy-to-produce AI tracks has made the problem worse,” Spotify says in its announcement. “That’s not the experience we want artists to have on Spotify, and that’s why we’ve made protecting artist identity a top priority for 2026.”
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Although Spotify has encouraged subscribers and artists to use its reporting resources to flag AI-generated music, this is the first time the company has given the artist an active role in preventing AI fraud, as well as avoiding common confusion in the release process. It follows the announcement of Apple Music’s ‘Transparency Labels’, a system that leaves the responsibility of disclosing AI music to labels and distributors, which does not necessarily guarantee 100% transparency. In the case of Spotify, it works slightly differently.
How artist profile protection works
If a musician enables Artist Profile Protection in Spotify settings for artists (artist team admins and editors have the ability to manage this), they will receive an email notification when music is submitted to Spotify on their behalf. This is when they can review the music and choose whether to approve or reject your release.
If an artist approves it, it will load as normal, contributing to the artist’s statistics and recommendations for listeners. If it is rejected or no action is taken, it will not appear on your profile, but it may still be published on platforms other than Spotify. With this in mind, Spotify recommends notifying the distributor. However, artists have a way to avoid this process.
When the feature is enabled, artists will receive what Spotify calls an “artist key,” which is essentially a unique code that musicians can share with trusted music distributors. So when music is submitted to Spotify with the artist key attached, the release will be automatically approved. The company goes into more detail about the artist profile protection features on the Spotify for Artists page.
Tightening the screws
Until now, it’s been easy for scammers to upload AI-generated music to Spotify to impersonate bigger artists and steal royalties through streams. While Artist Profile Protection doesn’t necessarily completely remove AI-generated music from the platform, it tightens the screws on the approval process and is a step in preventing the rise of AI fraud.
The main difference between Spotify’s approach and Apple Music’s system is that, although team administrators and editors manage the artist’s protection profile, musicians still have a say in the music that is released. And while it’s technically an opt-in system, even if an artist enables the feature and never uses it, the music won’t be released unless it’s approved, so there’s an extra layer of protection.
These factors aside, the system also aims to rebuild listener trust, allowing them to stream their favorite artists with confidence that the music is legitimate. Additionally, it ensures that only artist-approved music appears in its recommendations, such as Discover Weekly and Release Radar, which, as we’ve seen with a handful of viewers, is where most of the AI crash occurs.
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