Spotify to Label AI Artists with AI Persona Badge, Keep Them Out of Personalized Recommendations

Spotify has introduced an AI Persona badge to help listeners distinguish between real artists and those whose identities may be AI-generated. As of mid-September, this badge will appear on artist profiles to indicate when an AI persona is being used. Artists can voluntarily disclose this status today. Spotify will also scrutinize profiles that appear to depict photorealistic AI-generated identities, such as the name and imagery.

The review process will initially include artists with a certain audience size. Upon identification by Spotify’s review team, affected artist profiles will be given the chance to self-disclose or appeal. It’s important to note that this initiative focuses solely on an artist’s public identity, not the nature of the music itself.

Spotify's move aligns with its AI Credits and SongDNA features, both of which rely on artists’ voluntary disclosures about AI usage. In September 2025, Spotify reported removing over 75 million spammy tracks from its platform, signaling a commitment to combat AI “bad actors.” However, challenges remain. In December, a King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard clone surfaced, followed by AI artist Sienna Rose who released ten albums between September and December 2025, three of which topped Spotify’s Viral 50.

Despite Spotify’s efforts, competitors like Deezer, Bandcamp, TIDAL, Apple Music, and Qobuz are adopting different strategies to address the issue, including transparent tagging, banning AI-generated music, and implementing AI detection tools.