Spotify recently removed 75 million tracks from its platform after determining they did not meet certain quality standards, according to Sam Duboff, Spotify's head of marketing. Duboff linked the mass removals in part to the rising volume of music generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
Growing volume of AI music and blurred boundaries
The music ecosystem is seeing a rapid increase in AI-produced content — more such "creations" appear on the platform every day. Duboff warned that the boundaries have become blurred, making it harder to determine when a track should be classified as using AI. This ambiguity complicates quality control and moderation efforts.
Spotify's approach to AI is mixed: the company supports some forms of AI-assisted music creation but enforces quality criteria that must be met. In some cases, platforms try to remove the financial incentive to upload low-quality AI music so that these uploads become less attractive.
Concrete figures: daily uploads and AI share
Duboff said Spotify receives about 100,000 uploads to its servers every day. A recent industry-wide report estimated that roughly 44 percent of uploads are AI-generated. Even if that figure is debatable, Duboff suggested it is reasonable to assume that tens of thousands of AI-generated tracks are added daily.
Artists using AI blur categorization
The situation is further complicated because established artists increasingly use AI tools in the studio. When AI assists the production process rather than fully generating a song, the resulting track may not be straightforwardly categorized as AI-generated. That hybrid reality makes moderation and policy-making more difficult.
Spotify's removal of 75 million tracks illustrates how major streaming services are adapting to the challenges posed by AI: attempting to preserve overall quality on the platform and reduce the prevalence of low-quality or misleading AI content.
