r/Music • u/ebradio • Jul 21 '25

music Spotify Publishes AI-Generated Songs From Dead Artists Without Permission

https://www.404media.co/spotify-publishes-ai-generated-songs-from-dead-artists-without-permission/
3.3k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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460

u/Abraham_Lingam Jul 21 '25

AI is the enemy of humanity.

183

u/DamnedLife Jul 21 '25

Spotify is close second for the artists.

41

u/Deeeeeeeeehn Jul 21 '25

*capitalism

2

u/Vandergrif Jul 22 '25

Or more specifically: greed.

20

u/KaJaHa Jul 21 '25

*AI with a profit motive

44

u/scrundel Jul 21 '25

It’s a pre-alpha tech that was rushed to market to appease brain-rotted MBAs. There is no ethical use of this crap.

7

u/musicwithbarb Jul 21 '25

I actually beg to differ for one reason. I'm blind. I can now send pictures to chat gpt and it will describe them to me. So, until two years ago, I could only read text posts on Reddit. But now, thanks to Chat GPT, I can actually interact with pretty much all of reddit. I can do memes now, which is a cool thing. But the best thing I learned from chat GPT pictures was the majesty of Niagara Falls. I've been there once before. But because I'm blind, it was just loud rushing water. With Chat GPT, my friends had taken a pic of the falls, which they sent me. Chat GPT described in as much detail as it possibly could and I was completely amazed by the falls after that. So, I hear your concerns. But Chat GPT has made my world so much bigger with the ability to describe pictures.

12

u/scrundel Jul 22 '25

I’ve been involved with the disability community since first grade, so I’m sympathetic, but this technology is genuinely harmful to society as a whole and doesn’t justify the edge cases where it can be beneficial

1

u/lavendersuga Jul 22 '25

There's some noble uses of AI, but the money sullies any good that can come of it. If it's helpful but not profitable, it will be skipped. I saw something further down about climate change detection and with the datacenter stories I've seen online...that's rich.

Years ago, I was chasing a dev dream (of a more comfortable life and maybe some interesting work) and started taking programming classes. Started watching YouTube vids and all that because mentors got cut (cost too much, ha). The attitude was insufferable.

"(Topic) Is useless because it doesn't make any money" was the refrain I heard from most of these people. I was talking about taking Japanese lessons and dude says "What's the point of that?" I was interested and enjoy the language!? Any subject that wasn't STEM was pissed on. Like they wouldn't have to know their way around these topics in order to translate them into code.

They want to make stuff to get rich but disdain learning about the stuff humans like or how they behave. There's no "art" in them, and I've seen some boneheaded ideas for apps that would mess with people's livelihoods. It's an insensitivity thing with many of them, I figure.

Lots of fatherless Jordan Peterson fans in there at the time too (a decade or so, give or take).

It was a bit icky. I've asked for years what are they going to do with the jobless and got back empty answers, "there will be an adjustment to make" was about as kind as it got. They didn't think they'd be the ones on the chopping block but there are now moves toward that as well.

I've met more enlightened/humanistic IT people since but that duller layer is quite thick. Then their heroes try to philosophize and they open their mouths for that.

I moved away from it, but I'm afraid some of them didn't change. They're trolls with a little extra grey matter between the ears and no real depth.

-3

u/MetalEnthusiast83 Jul 22 '25

There is no ethical use of this crap.

I mean, I mostly use to help with powershell scripting and making meeting summaries. I'm not sure how either of those uses of AI is even remotely unethical

6

u/scrundel Jul 22 '25

Because the basis for its ability to do anything is stolen IP and it uses an insane amount of energy. It’s not a complex or nuanced issue, people just choose to ignore it.

1

u/SpaceDomdy Jul 22 '25

unfortunately “AI” is the new-ish buzzword that includes significantly more tech than just LLMs like ChatGPT. machine learning has been ethically sourced as far as IP concerns and as many tend to be much more narrow, are significantly more energy efficient than you are imagining.

i’d agree that the “version” of ai you are pointing to is shit, but to say the technology has no value is disingenuous at best without defining what you actually mean when you say ai.

1

u/scrundel Jul 22 '25

I don’t think machine learning models have zero utility. I’m completely on board with using them in data science. The problem is that the models being used today were not ready for prime time when the boom started and are now being sold to moronic MBAs and consumers who think it’s revolutionary when it’s measurably worse than a human 99% of the time.

1

u/SpaceDomdy Jul 23 '25

believe me i’m very familiar with the people you’re referring to. i’ve worked closely with many in the tech space. glad to hear you’re not opposed to the technology so much as you are opposed to the LLMs being sold as if they were skynet. “it’s not complex or nuances” tends to read as there is zero argument in favor of a technology being utilized.

just to clarify though, the models being used today should specifically refer to that shitty skynet bucket as the data science stuff especially in medical and scientific field has been in use for a while now with both ethical sourcing and effective outcomes.

10

u/JamJamGaGa Jul 21 '25

*All AI

-3

u/Wuncemoor Jul 21 '25

Embarrassingly small minded take

4

u/yarmulke Jul 21 '25

Please give a thoughtful rebuttal, then. Can’t wait to see what ChatGPT vomits out when you ask it for one and paste it as a response 🤣

7

u/Dalecn Jul 21 '25

Detection of multitude of life altering or ending alignments at a scale an accuracy that was never previously possible.

Tracking and tackling climate change and climate disasters that come about due to them.

Improving widelife conservation.

Scientific discovery AI improves the speeds at which humans can research and make discoveries in so many important scientific sectors.

Improving the agricultural sector, making it more efficient, and creating greater yields.

A myriad of potential benefits alongside robotics, which has the potential to improve the day to day lifes of billions around the world.

Transportation in the future using AI we can see transportation systems running at much greater frequency 24/7.

Allowing people with severe disabilities to become more independent in day to day life.

3

u/Wuncemoor Jul 21 '25

The world is bigger than your silly music and memes. Do you seriously think that AI assisted cancer detection is a waste of time? Har de har har you're so funny, Dunning-Kruger personified.

2

u/Griffithead Jul 21 '25

AI assisted cancer detection COULD be amazing.

But will it be used ethically? Or will the models be trained in only certain ways that benefit the insurance companies?

What about false negatives? These companies are going to eliminate the human component. They say they won't. But you know they will.

We need massive regulation, but that's never going to happen, especially with the current administration.

10

u/Stigmastep Jul 21 '25

All of these risks are entirely based on decisions made by human beings.

1

u/Griffithead Jul 22 '25

What if the decision is to trust AI explicitly?

4

u/Wuncemoor Jul 21 '25

Cool, so you agree with me that not all AI is bad

1

u/Griffithead Jul 22 '25

Yeah, but the people that will control AI ARE.

-2

u/leddowa Jul 21 '25

Please delete this I physically cringed

3

u/jingowatt Jul 21 '25

Why would you fucking continue with Spotify?

5

u/Abraham_Lingam Jul 21 '25

Spotify is abominable, but I am an artist struggling to get listens and they are a major streamer. I don't use them to listen to anything. I quit my Amazon prime because I hate Bezos, but I shop at Whole foods so I am just losing money on sales. Only have so much energy to fight.

0

u/jingowatt Jul 21 '25

Isn’t Apple much better?

1

u/Abraham_Lingam Jul 21 '25

I think all the dogs have fleas. Even bandcamp came up dirty.

-4

u/CobrasMama Jul 21 '25

AI is NOT the enemy of humanity.

AI could create a utopia in the right hands.

The problem is that AI is in the hands of the enemies of humanity who want to create a dystopia.

(AI being used for profiting off art, obviously, is something I innately oppose)

-7

u/emerican Jul 21 '25

It is not. It’s a tool. A tool people and businesses are using negatively.

-25

u/Reggaejunkiedrew Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 21 '25

Technology is what people do with it. If you want to ignore all the potential for medical and technological advancement that can cure cancer, give us a  room temp super conductor and maybe put us in a post wealth utopia, sure. 

It might go very bad but these type of reductionist takes don't advance the conversation and leave nuance in the wind. The reasons why it is or isn't the enemy of humanity have nothing to do with some ai generated song on Spotify. Technology can and will do a lot of good and a lot of bad, but when someone makes it some extreme black and white thing it just seems ideological and they don't actually give a shit about the potential for good. 

18

u/Dynastydood Jul 21 '25

It would probably be better to say that the companies pushing AI in its current form are the enemies of humanity rather than the AI itself.

24

u/simcity4000 Jul 21 '25

Do you actually think Suno music generator is going to make medical breakthroughs or are you deliberately being obtuse for the sake of a pendantic argument?

1

u/Odeeum Jul 21 '25

They didnt day it would. Their point us that AI in general has civilization changing possibilities...for the betterment of all of us. But it ALSO has the potential to erode and destroy the lives of most of us. AI in general CAN be something that transforms humanity positively...or end up ending us as a species. Thats it. Thats their point.

-2

u/simcity4000 Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 22 '25

Right so again, do you mean Suno.AI? Music gen AI? Which this post is clearly about considering its in /r/music?

Or are you going "well actually machine learning has shown vast applications in..." which is an entirely pointless tangent in this context? Do you genuinely think people in this sub are raging against MLs being used to find cancer or making superconductors?

6

u/Abraham_Lingam Jul 21 '25

Those things did not happen.

-18

u/bulletPoint Jul 21 '25

You’re bringing nuance to a conversation with a bunch of luddites. Best steer clear of this contingent

8

u/thejesiah Jul 21 '25

Ah, but the actual luddites didn't want to ban the new technology, they simply wanted sensible regulations to help protect workers, consumers, and quality.

-3

u/bulletPoint Jul 21 '25

You can’t even define what you want.

3

u/thejesiah Jul 21 '25

Sensible regulations? Plenty have been outlined by people with more time for this than me. I'm going to go work on music to release while I still have a chance.

-1

u/bulletPoint Jul 21 '25

So, “sensible regulations “ makes sense in theory but you’re stuck in the same practical spot as you are/were with piracy. Sure it’s illegal to pirate music, but it’s possible and easy so people will do it. Technology such as the internet made it easier to distribute the music files and it became even easier still. The commercial model for streaming subscriptions put a damper on piracy and theft, not any of the sensible regulations that preceded it. Now you have easily generated filters that can create / copy music styles. Rather than the entire track, the building blocks for the track are under attack. No regulatory framework can put that horse back in the barn. Best to embrace it and make sense of what to do with an art form given that such a thing exists. You’re the artist here and you have a tremendous opportunity in front of you.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 21 '25

[deleted]

1

u/bulletPoint Jul 21 '25

Yes.

Translation: “I did paperwork at a defense contractor and think I know what I’m talking about, please take me seriously. Also I can’t pay my bills”

1

u/scrundel Jul 22 '25

lol ok kid

1

u/brickmaster32000 Jul 21 '25

Are they bringing nuance or are they just being intentionally obtuse? If you asked the original poster, who said AI was bad, if they thought that we shouldn't use computers to search for potential medical breakthroughs, do you really think they would have said that we shouldn't do that? Or did you just refuse to consider the context the statement was made in to pretend they would make a ridiculous argument?

1

u/bulletPoint Jul 21 '25

Nuance and informative addition to a conversation with a bunch of luddite hordes not fit for public.

-3

u/Ghost51 Concertgoer Jul 21 '25

AI is the invention that has the potential to give us a genuinely utopian future. Unfortunately it's currently turbocharging the garbage capitalist system we live in instead of improving lives.

10

u/Abraham_Lingam Jul 21 '25

All this talk of utopia is pure fantasy. Meanwhile, AI is causing problems in the real world.

-1

u/Ghost51 Concertgoer Jul 22 '25

Fantastical thinking about new political models is the only way to escape our current course. Otherwise we'll be sleepwalking into extinction.

-45

u/Nightgasm Jul 21 '25

Nah. AI actually makes better music than a lot of artists. I wouldn't call Velvet Sundown great or even good by any means but it's also not terrible and Id definitely choose them over a lot of human created music nowadays.

If you missed it this is a fake AI band that was marketed as real and got a lot of plays until people figured out it was AI and then lost their minds. It's kind of bland 70s style folk rock / prog rock. Nothing special but also not horrible sounding.

22

u/Dynastydood Jul 21 '25

I'm not sure what you mean by "until." It was blatantly obvious Velvet Sundown was AI from the moment it was released. The only reason it got so many plays was because of the media pretending there was any debate as to the legitimacy of the music, which triggered people to go listen for themselves and instantly conclude that it was, in fact, AI.

15

u/simcity4000 Jul 21 '25

I've noticed a trend where every time AI music is brought up and someone attempts to defend it the most they can give is this backhanded compliment that goes "well most human artists suck anyway"

No one can actually say it's good or inspiring or anything in and of itself, so they just say that human art is shit. You say yourself that Velvet sundown "isn't even good" but, you have to jump to point out that you hate human art more.

That is who this is by and for. People who do not like or respect human creation. It's not made for love of the game, it's made for hate of the game.

-4

u/Nightgasm Jul 21 '25

I've noticed that people like you get so twisted out of shape by the concept of AI you ignore what we actually said as you didn't. I never said AI is better than ALL human art which is what you are implying I said. Lots of human stuff is better but lots it's worse as well.

8

u/simcity4000 Jul 21 '25

I'm perfectly aware of what you said I just don't respect it or you.

13

u/Erniethebeanfiend200 Jul 21 '25

Its the lowest form of slop built from scraps stolen from real creative humans. Even if it sounds ok sonically it's the very definition of soulless slop created for mindless consumption. You could say pop music is the same as its all carefully measured and written for mass consumption but at the very least multiple people had to put in effort and artistry to create it. I listen to music to hear actual artistry from humans and having this 0 effort dogshit mixed in and held at the same level as real human artists (no matter how good they are or how much better the AI shit is) is insulting.

14

u/Abraham_Lingam Jul 21 '25

It's not horrible sounding because it stole the ideas from humans.

3

u/AstralElephantFuzz Jul 21 '25

You know, it's perfectly okay to just say you have a very narrow taste in music.