Spotify is a good platform for up-and-coming artists since they are paid based on the number of listeners. Although, it appears that some uploaders have been boosting listener numbers using bots to generate more revenue, causing Spotify to take many songs down.
Artificial Listeners on Spotify
Suspicious activity has been detected by Universal Music and has reported the irregularities to Spotify and other music streaming platforms. The targeted music was created using the startup generative AI company, Boomy. Around 7% of its songs have been taken down.
The percentage removed accounts for tens of thousands of music created through the AI service, as they were suspected of artificially inflating the number of listeners to gain revenue from the streaming service through royalties, as mentioned in Engadget.
Spotify stated that artificial streaming has been a "longstanding, industry-wide issue" and that it has been working to weed them out across its services. The company has also confirmed that it has taken action, enumerating the consequences of manipulated streams.
For one, the music streaming service can withhold royalties when suspicious activity has been detected on the track or uploader. They may also cut down streaming numbers in order to justly provide royalty payout for artists who are honest and work hard for them.
Boomy, the generative AI service that can create music, boasts of its users already creating over 14 million songs, which may make it difficult for streaming platforms to identify which are artificially pumping up listens due to the sheer number of songs alone.
AI-generated music has also been put under the microscope after a song created using AI technology included the vocals of known pop artists, Drake and The Weekend. This could mean that the company may have trained the AI using the voice of the mentioned artists.
Universal Music Group, which represents the two, said that it was a violation of copyright law. While Spotify and Apple Music already removed the music from their systems, it still doesn't change the fact that the voices of music artists can be used to generate music using AI.
Boomy
The AI company claims that through their service, you can create music even if you have never done it before. Boomy's free tier allows users to access all features used to create music and even earn from up to five releases, all without needing to pay for the services.
It's easy to see why people can be enticed by what the music-generating AI can offer. They can create music in just a few seconds, and leave it up in streaming services to attract listeners and earn passive income.
A blog from Boomy's official website claims that users can stream their creations live on more than 40 streaming services which include Spotify, TikTok, YouTube, and Apple Music, which can reach over two billion people.
Creators can check their stream counts every day as the system updates it to see how their music is faring. The royalties from the music is then deposited to the account of the user every month, which can be withdrawn using PayPal.
