Why Spotify removed 75 million songs
The streaming giant has taken a clear, deliberate stance against a specific music "genre".
The world’s biggest music streaming platform has announced that it removed an estimated 75 million tracks in one of the largest content clean-ups ever seen in the music industry.
The world has seen the changes artificial intelligence has brought to various industries, but it has not been without controversy.
AI-generated content has become a growing challenge for streaming services as it becomes easier, cheaper, and faster to produce.
Artificial intelligence is changing music faster than anyone imagined, but Spotify has drawn a line in the sand.
Some people might see it as a slight overreaction or a bit dramatic.
The company's latest move isn't about banning AI-generated music altogether.
Instead, it’s aimed at stopping fraudsters who exploit AI to flood the platform with fake songs and siphon money from real artists.
If you use AI as part of your songwriting or production process, don’t panic.
Spotify says AI itself isn’t the problem.
The issue is what many in the industry have started calling “AI slop", which are low-quality songs generated in seconds with little or no creative input before being uploaded in bulk.
Today’s AI music tools can create complete tracks from a simple text prompt.
While that’s opened exciting opportunities for musicians, it’s also made it incredibly easy for absolutely everyone to generate thousands of nearly identical songs at scale.
Spotify receives around 100,000 new uploads every day, and some industry estimates suggest that almost half of all new music uploaded to streaming platforms is now AI-generated.
But how are people using this as a scam?
It's surprisingly simple.
Streaming royalties are paid from a shared revenue pool.
Every time someone listens to a song, a portion of that pool is allocated based on streams.
Fraudsters exploit this by uploading massive libraries of generic ambient sounds, meditation music and repetitive instrumental tracks under fake artist names.
They then use bots to artificially inflate streaming numbers. Those fake streams earn real money.
Every rand paid to fraudulent uploads means less money is available for genuine musicians who spend months or even years writing, recording and producing original music.
For independent South African artists, where every stream counts, the impact can be especially significant.
Spotify says legitimate AI-assisted music remains welcome on the platform, provided creators own the necessary commercial rights and use AI as part of a genuine creative process.
In an official press release, it said: "Music has always been shaped by technology. From multitrack tape and synthesizers to digital audio workstations and Auto-Tune, every generation of artists and producers has used new tools to push sound and storytelling forward."
The company is focusing on identifying abuse.
Its updated machine-learning systems are designed to detect suspicious upload behaviour, unusual streaming patterns and bot activity before fraudulent tracks can generate significant royalties.
Spotify has also tightened its rules around AI voice cloning, removing music that imitates the voices of established artists without permission.
At the same time, the streaming giant has introduced stronger protections to stop companies from scraping Spotify’s catalogue to train AI models without authorisation.
The debate around AI in music is only just beginning.
Music industry organisations are calling for clearer labels that identify whether a song is fully AI-generated or simply AI-assisted.
Supporters believe this would give listeners more transparency while helping protect the work of human artists.
As AI technology continues to improve, streaming platforms will face increasing pressure to separate genuine creativity from content created purely to manipulate algorithms.
Spotify’s removal of 75 million tracks may be one of the biggest clean-ups in streaming history, but it’s unlikely to be the last.
For listeners, it’s a reminder that every legitimate stream supports a songwriter, producer or performer whose livelihood depends on fair compensation.
In an era where anyone can generate thousands of songs with a few prompts, protecting real artists may become one of the music industry’s biggest priorities.
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Image: AFP