Spotify will begin labeling artist profiles that represent AI-generated identities, introducing a new AI Persona badge designed to help listeners distinguish between human artists and artificial intelligence-created personas on the platform.
The music streaming company announced the policy on Tuesday in a statement published on its official newsroom, saying the labels will begin appearing on some artist profiles from mid-September as part of a broader effort to improve transparency and trust in music streaming.
The move comes as AI-generated music becomes increasingly common across streaming platforms, with some AI-created songs attracting millions of streams before listeners discover that the vocals or artist identities were generated using artificial intelligence.
Spotify said artists will be able to voluntarily disclose that their profile represents an AI Persona through Spotify for Artists. However, the company said it will not rely solely on self-disclosure and will independently review artist profiles where necessary.
The AI Persona badge will appear on artist profiles, search results and track listings across playlists. Spotify said the label is intended to indicate that an artist identity may be AI-generated and does not represent a real person.
“We hope artists will be transparent, so we are giving them the opportunity to disclose, but we won’t rely on self-disclosure alone,” Spotify said.
The platform said it will review artist profiles whose public identities appear to represent photorealistic AI-generated personas and notify affected artists.
Artists whose profiles are flagged will be given an opportunity to appeal the decision or voluntarily disclose that their identity is AI-generated.
Spotify also plans to introduce a reporting system that will allow listeners to flag artist profiles they believe represent AI Personas.
“In the coming months, we’ll also give listeners the ability to report artist profiles they believe represent AI Personas to our review team,” the company said.
The streaming platform added that AI Persona accounts will not be included in editorial or algorithmic recommendations by default unless users specifically choose to follow them.
Spotify’s announcement comes amid the rapid rise of AI-generated music, including in Nigeria and other African markets where AI-created songs have gained significant attention.
One notable example was “Papaoutai – Afro Soul (Stromae Remix),” a fully AI-generated voice-cloned cover that became a viral hit in early 2026. The track appeared on Spotify’s global chart and reached the top of Nigeria’s Spotify Viral chart, with many listeners initially unaware that the vocals were generated using AI.
Other AI-created tracks, including “Soul Of Afrika” by Grace Echo and “This Year,” also reached the top 10 of Nigeria’s Spotify Daily Viral Songs chart. “DON’T PLAY WITH ME” by Thompsxn Therapy also became one of the country’s trending songs during the period.
The growing popularity of AI-generated music has intensified concerns within the global music industry over transparency, consent and the potential misuse of artists’ identities, voices and likenesses.
In 2024, more than 200 prominent musicians signed an open letter calling for stronger protections against AI systems capable of imitating artists’ voices, likenesses and musical styles. Signatories included Billie Eilish, Nicki Minaj, J Balvin and Stevie Wonder, as well as members of R.E.M. and the estates of Frank Sinatra and Bob Marley.
Spotify said its new identity labels are designed to answer a specific question for listeners: whether the artist profile represents an actual human being.
“Listeners have been clear in telling us that they don’t like seeing an artist profile that seems human, only to find out that the persona is AI-generated,” the company said.
Spotify is the world’s largest music streaming platform and has become an increasingly important part of Nigeria’s growing digital music industry.
The company said Nigerian listeners streamed more than 1.4 million hours of music on Spotify in 2025, while podcast consumption on the platform has surpassed 59 billion hours since the service launched in the country.
Streaming activity in Nigeria has also recorded triple-digit average annual growth over the past five years, highlighting the rapid expansion of the country’s digital music market.
Spotify’s latest Loud & Clear report showed that Nigerian artists earned more than N60 billion from Spotify streams in 2025, with revenues from the platform increasing by more than 140% over the previous two years.
The AI Persona labels form part of Spotify’s broader transparency efforts, which include artist verification, AI usage disclosures, contributor information through SongDNA and profile protection tools intended to prevent artist impersonation and misattributed releases.
As AI-generated music continues to gain traction, the new labels could give listeners greater visibility into how artist identities are created while giving Spotify another mechanism for addressing concerns over transparency and authenticity on its platform.
