Spotify says it has kept more than 50 million tracks it classifies as slop or spam out of listeners’ recommendations this year, following changes aimed at favoring human artists. Separately, the company says it has deleted more than 75 million spam tracks from Spotify because of severe rule breaches or violations that happened repeatedly. The recommendation exclusions and platform deletions are different measures, with Spotify describing the former as additional to the latter.
The company detailed the figures today, a year after setting out an effort to counter spam, impersonation and deception associated with AI. It says it has spent the past six months adjusting its recommendation system to screen out unwanted material and bring more work by human artists to listeners. Spotify also says its editors exclude material classified as slop or spam when choosing what to feature.
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Listening behavior helped guide those changes: Spotify says it examined music people skipped, passed over or explicitly rejected earlier this year. Tracks flagged as slop or spam repeatedly emerged in that review, according to the company. Since changing its systems, Spotify says it has seen substantially fewer listener concerns about such tracks appearing among recommendations.
To identify suspect material, Spotify combines audience responses with details about uploads and track metadata, alongside results from several outside AI detection tools. The company cautions that AI detectors have limits and expects detection to become more difficult as generative AI develops. It says combining these indicators gives it greater confidence when identifying probable spam or slop.
Spotify is also looking for manipulation through unusually brief tracks, duplicate material and large batches of uploads. Other targets include efforts to manipulate search visibility and networks of spam playlists, and the company says it will adjust its systems as tactics change.
The recommendation work follows another artist initiative, Fresh Finds Forward, which Spotify introduced in September with an expected annual intake of about 10,000 emerging independent artists. That program offers participants 12 months of support, including early use of selected Spotify tools and opportunities to connect with staff and alumni.
