From sensual bat songs to the suspicious coke habits of Santa: ai slop music is becoming more difficult to avoid
AI Slop is All floods single digital Platforma music streaming service No exception– Very often, even those who avoid AI in general may find themselves listening to the bat without knowing what robots are listening to horny.
Take Sordid Saga from “Make Love to My Shitter,” an AI-generated track from an artist called Banned Vinyl Collection. Brace Belden, host of the popular political podcast Truannon, says Spotify recently lined up Bawdy Song after listening to Alt-Country Legend Lucinda Williams’ 1992 album Sweet old world. “In the beginning I didn’t realize that the song was AI,” he says. “I thought it might have been a record of lewd jokes from the ’80s or ’90s.”
The person behind the Banned Vinyl Collection went through “JB” and otherwise did not identify themselves to Wired, making sure the output of the X-rated novelty song was made with AI. Other songs by Butt Erotica-Erotica-Temed Oeuvre by Banned Vinyl Collection include “Grant Me Rectal Delight” and “Taste My Ass.” He says he makes money from music, but most of the profit comes from Patreon and Bandcamp, not Spotify. “I think it’s fair to make money from there,” he says. “Each song can take several hours to make.” He says his monthly revenue on Spotify is around $200.
Tim Ingham is the founder and publisher of The Trade Publication Music Business around the world. Documentation His own experience tracking music generated by AI on Spotify last week. Like Belden, the first AI-generated music Spotify served him fell under the novel umbrella of adults. Instead of bat-themed country music, it was a song inspired by the ’70s souls about substance use, such as “Santa Claus Caught Sniffing Cocaine.” Viewing Spotify, Ingham writes that he quickly identified 13 artists who are believed to be AI fuel “around 4.1 million cumulative monthly listeners among them.” Not everything about this music is overtly goofy. Some of them simply mimic popular genres like the nation.
Spotify did not respond to requests for comment.
The mainstreaming of AI music is not included on Spotify alone. French music streaming app Deezer tracks the volume of AI songs on its platform, and has found that in recent months, the AI detection system has flagged 18% of tracks of around 600,000 songs per day. Deezer’s tools flag and remove AI content like other major streamers, but there is no way for listeners to actively block AI-generated songs from algorithmic recommendations. “We fully believe that all streaming platforms should not be allowed to upload music,” Belden says. Currently there is no such streamer with blanket AI ban. Major platforms like Spotify and YouTube have banned AI music that deepens real artists, but YouTube needs to label “realistic” AI content. Spotify does not have disclosure rules for labeling content, which is AI.
Belden first shared his story on last week’s X media Report It highlighted the success of Velvet Sundown, a psychedelic rock band that quickly accumulated over half a million listeners each month on Spotify within weeks of their debut music on the platform. Reporters explained that they clearly generated both the images and the music that the band used to promote itself.