Spotify announced that it will be partnering with Sony Music Group, Universal Warner Music Group and independent licensing agency Merlin and digital music company Believe to create “responsible” AI products.
While the music streamer did not confirm any specific AI tools in development, it did say it was making “significant investments in AI research and product development”, including a new AI research lab and product team in a release.
“At Spotify, we want to build this future hand in hand with the music industry, guided by clear principles and deep respect for creators, just as we did in the days of piracy,” Spotify co-president and chief product and technology officer Gustav Söderström said.
“Our company brings deep research expertise to this opportunity and we’re actively growing our AI team.”
Spotify said it hopes to add more distributors and rights holders in the future.
The announcement comes amid tension between the music industry and big tech firms, leading to three major labels suing AI companies whose tools create music from user prompts.
It also comes less than a month after Spotify cracked down on “AI slop” on its platform under the rising threat of viral AI-generated music.
The partnership also comes after AI-generated band The Velvet Sundown was in the spotlight after tacking up 1 million monthly listeners.
Spotify has also received backlash after CEO Daniel Ek, who is set to step down next year, led a 600 million euro funding round for defence technology startup Helsing in June.
This caused a number of artists to remove their catalogues from the platform in protest.
″‘Daniel Ek uses $700 million of his Spotify fortune to become chairman of AI battle tech company’ was not a headline we enjoyed reading this week,” Deerhoof wrote in a statement on Instagram.
“We don’t want our music killing people. We don’t want our success being tied to AI battle tech.”
