Spotify Says Human Artistry Comes First, and I’m Glad It Does

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Follow on Google Discover Spotify has spent the past year trying to keep AI-generated slop, spam, impersonation, and deceptive content from taking over the listening experience. Its latest update makes its position pretty clear: human artists should come first. Spotify removed 50 million tracks from recommendations in 2026 According to Spotify , it has removed more than 50 million slop and spam tracks from recommendations this year alone.

Additionally, Spotify removed more than 75 million spammy tracks from its platform entirely for serious or repeated rule violations. Spotify says these changes have already reduced complaints about this type of content appearing in recommendations. And personally, I’m completely behind the idea of putting human music first.

11 days left SammyGuru October 2026 Giveaway Smartwatch of your choice, up to $499 4,697 entries so far. Enter free → “AI-generated slop and spam don’t belong in your recommendations, and we’ve made changes to keep them out and protect the listening experience. This year alone, we’ve taken more than 50 million slop and spam tracks out of recommendations.

This is in addition to more than 75 million spammy tracks we’ve removed from our platform altogether for serious or repeated violations of our rules,” Spotify wrote in a blog post Spotify isn’t outright banning every song that uses AI. Instead, it’s adding more transparency and making it harder for low-effort AI content to compete with real artists.

Its AI Credits system now shows which roles or instruments in a song were created with AI. Artists are submitting tens of thousands of these disclosures every day. Spotify has also verified more than 300,000 artists, representing over 99% of what listeners search for.

Now, AI-generated artist identities can receive an AI Persona badge. Those AI Personas are excluded from editorial and algorithmic recommendations by default unless listeners actively follow them. Spotify is also using multiple signals, including listener feedback, upload behavior, metadata, and third-party AI detection, to identify likely spam and slop.

However, the company acknowledges that AI detection isn’t perfect and will become harder as generative tools improve. Real music still means something different As a die-hard music listener, I’m personally a huge no on replacing musicians with AI-generated music. Real music has something I don’t think generative AI can reproduce in the same way.

That is, originality rooted in someone’s life, emotional depth, and an actual message from the person who created it. When an artist writes about grief, love, anger, fear, or something they lived through, you can hear and understand where that song came from. There’s a person behind it, and I’m really deeply invested in the meanings and messages that artists are trying to convey to other listeners or to me through their music.

That’s what makes music so personal. You aren’t just listening to a voice or a melody. You’re connecting with someone’s experiences, emotions, and perspective on life.

And for me, that’s something worth protecting. This work isn’t finished. AI moves fast, and bad actors adapt just as fast.

But as AI makes music more abundant, we believe listeners will value human artistry even more. Our job is to make Spotify the place they find it – Spotify AI can imitate patterns, voices, instruments, and styles. That doesn’t mean I want it replacing the people who actually create the music we connect with.

Spotify says that as AI makes music increasingly abundant, listeners will value human artistry even more. I certainly hope it’s right, and I really hope everyone will value human artistry even more from now on. Because as much as AI can generate music, I still believe there’s a difference between something that sounds good and something that actually means something to the person listening to it.

Written by David Buliga David Buliga is a Romanian writer at SammyGuru, where he covers the Samsung and Android ecosystem with a focus on apps, software features, and the trends shaping how we actually use our devices — from Galaxy Watch apps to One UI 9, plus the occasional opinion piece.

He joined SammyGuru in 2026 after previously creating entertainment content on YouTube, producing animations and gameplay videos. Currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Applied Electronics and Telecommunications, David is passionate about consumer technology and enjoys getting under the hood of smartphones to see what makes them tick.

Outside of tech, he loves listening to music, reading books, photography, and exploring the random ideas that often inspire his next story.