Spotify’s AI Remix Push Gives Indie Artists Two Chances To Say No

Spotify signed a deal with Believe that would let fans make AI covers and remixes of songs by artists who choose to take part. For indie acts, saying yes to AI talks would not mean accepting this tool.

The October 20 deal covered artists and labels served by Believe and TuneCore. Artists would first opt in to hear about AI plans, the firms said. They could then accept or turn down Spotify’s offer on its own.

The planned tool would cost extra on top of Spotify Premium. It would let fans rework songs, not make wholly new works. Streams would pay royalties to the artists and rights holders behind the source music, and each remix would link back to the original song and artist.

The firms could sign a deal, but the artists would still have their own choice. The news release did not name any rappers or singers who had signed up. It also did not spell out their share of the money.

Spotify had already struck deals for the tool with Universal Music Group in May, Merlin in August and Kobalt that same month. Music Business Worldwide reported that the service still had not announced a price or launch date.

The deal came as Hip-Hop’s debate over AI reached past who gets paid. In a recent AllHipHop interview, Young Guru drew a line between tools that help people work and tools that do the creative work for them.

“I can’t stand the creative AI. There’s no reason for it,” the longtime JAY-Z engineer said.

Young Guru said he did not use it to create, though he did not reject AI that helps with tasks. He also raised concerns about who controls those tools and what they can learn about people’s private lives. Those remarks came before the new deal, not as a response to it.

Spotify also released new figures on its efforts to keep spam out of fans’ feeds. It said it had kept more than 50 million tracks it classed as spam or low-value content out of song suggestions this year. That was separate from more than 75 million tracks removed from the service for serious or repeated rule breaches.

Its profile-protection tool, which lets artists review releases that use their names, remained in a test phase. Spotify said it planned to open that tool to all artists by the end of the year.