Spotify will start verifying artists are who they say they are

Spotify is rolling out a new Verified status. Starting soon, profiles that the platform has confirmed to represent actual, human artists will get a Verified by Spotify badge with a green checkmark icon. You won’t see the badge on any AI profiles — at least not right now.

In a blog post announcing the initiative, Spotify says artist profiles that meet certain criteria will be eligible for the Verified badge. To be Verified, an artist has to be in compliance with Spotify’s policies and have “identifiable artist presence both on and off-platform.”

While AI profiles won’t be eligible for verification (“At launch,” anyway), the new badge is more about confirming profiles really are the artists they claim to be than about weeding out AI-generated music. The review process will be focused on profiles with sustained interest over time, and Spotify specifically says it isn’t prioritizing review of “content farms.”

Still, it seems like the program will have an impressive scope. Spotify says that at launch, “more than 99% of the artists Spotify listeners actively search for” will be verified.

Spotify also announced a new Artist details section that every artist profile will have, regardless of whether or not they’re Verified. Here, you’ll see the info Spotify has on the artist AI-summarized, with details about their touring activity, release history, and more.

Both the Verified by Spotify badge and the AI-generated artist summaries will begin rolling out in “the coming weeks.”