2023-05-09 16:07:33
Time.news – Spotify has removed tens of thousands of songs made by artificial intelligence music start-up Boomy. It’s the most sensational move in the war the platform has unleashed after allegations of fraud on streaming services.
In recent months, the music industry has had to deal with the rise of AI-generated songs and, more generally, the growing number of tracks that they flood the platforms daily on streaming.
Spotify has recently removed about 7% of the traces that had been uploaded by Boomy, the equivalent of “tens of thousands” of songs. Universal Music had reported to all major platforms that it had seen suspicious streaming activity on Boomy’s tracks.
In essence, reports the Financial Times, Boomy would have not only artificially generated the songs, but also created artificial traffic on the platforms to make them rise in the rankings.
Boomy, which launched two years ago, allows users to choose various styles, ranging from “rap beats” to “rainy nights”, to create an AI-generated track. Users can then upload the music to streaming services, where they will generate royalty payments. Boomy claims its users have created more than 14 million songs.
Spotify has confirmed that it has removed some Boomy content: “Artificial streaming is a long-standing problem and we’re working to fix it.”
The crackdown comes as powerful music industry broker Lucian Grainge warned of the proliferation of songs on platforms like Spotify, where 100,000 new tracks are added every day, and the growing manipulation of the system.
Grainge, chief executive officer of Universal, told investors last week that “the recent explosive development of generative AI, if left unchecked, will increase the flow of unwanted content on platforms and will create rights issues with respect to copyright law.”
Universal sent a letter to streaming services last month asking them to crack down on the use of generative AI on their platforms. That same week, a song that used artificial intelligence to mimic the voices of Drake and The Weeknd it had gone viral.
Boomy is negotiating with Spotify and said it was “categorically against any kind of manipulation or artificial streaming”.
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