AI-generated tracks are showing up on deceased musician’s Spotify pages
Spotify said it has removed a track uploaded to the profile of a country musician who was murdered in 1989.
AI-generated tracks are showing up on the Spotify profiles of dead musicians, according to a new report from 404 Media.
According to the publication, several fake tracks have appeared on the pages of deceased artists in the past week – most recently a ‘new’ single from country singer Blaze Foley, who was murdered in 1989.
They claim that a new track named ‘Together’ appeared on Foley’s page last week, which lacked the likeness of his original work. It also featured visibly AI-generated cover art, showing a non-descript country musician singing on stage.
Mixmag merch is here: Check out the range
404 Media reached out to the label that distributes Foley’s music and manages his Spotify, Lost Art Records, who told the publication that it was “instantly” recognised as a fake track.
Lost Art’s owner, Craig McDonald, said: “I can clearly tell you that this song is not Blaze, not anywhere near Blaze’s style, at all.”
“It’s kind of an AI schlock bot, if you will. It has nothing to do with the Blaze you know, that whole posting has the authenticity of an algorithm.”
Read this next: Spotify CEO Daniel Ek becomes chairman of AI military start-up following €600 million investment
The track has now been removed from Foley's page for “violating the Deceptive Content policy", a Spotify spokesperson has said. McDonald claims that this track was uploaded without permission.
The report also notes that the same distribution company who uploaded the track, Syntax Error, also released a new, AI-generated track on the page of country musician Guy Clark, who passed away in 2016.
The track, titled ‘Happened To You’, was also uploaded to Spotify last week, and similarly featured an AI image of a singer without likeness to Clark.
Read the full report here.
Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Associate Digital Editor, follow her on Twitter.
