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AI-generated music is appealing to streaming services, not least because it could potentially eliminate royalty payments and boost profits. While providers such as Qobuz are distancing themselves from AI-generated music, Tidal and Spotify already have very lax AI policies. According to a report by the Financial Times, Spotify is now planning a full-scale AI push, set to launch as early as the first quarter of 2027.

The streaming market leader is apparently adding an optional AI package to its Spotify Premium subscription, reportedly costing $4 to $5 per month, which could make the service's Premium subscription up to 39 percent more expensive. Those willing to pay these additional costs are expected to receive two main new features. First, the ability to have artificial intelligence regenerate existing songs as remixes. And second, the option to generate any song as a cover version by any band, thereby changing the song's style.

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[-] Unpigged@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 5 hours ago

I didn't get it. Imagine the sales pitch here.

"Yeah we are going to make your subscription more expensive, but you'll get more slop in return!"

Why?!

[-] hamburger@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 hour ago

Because a lot of people don’t care or even like this stuff.

[-] Unpigged@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 48 minutes ago

So they will pay more for it, right? Right?

[-] raze2012@lemmy.world 5 points 4 hours ago

"Ai efficiencies will be passed on to the customer!"

Remember this next time billionaires say they'll happily pay onto UBI or whatever.

[-] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 5 points 5 hours ago

This would get me onto Qobuz at least.

[-] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 7 points 6 hours ago

There's people willing to pay an extra to listen a butchered automatic cover of a song where Spotify probably doesn't even pay royalties on that?

I thought the market would prefer the opposite: pay extra for a noslop guarantee, with a full monthlysubscription refund if a slop is accidentally inserted in a playlist

[-] deadalus@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 4 hours ago

Well, gotta make all the AI cost back somehow. Most people are too comfortable to actually change anything, so they'll just pay more

[-] nerdo@lemmy.zip 2 points 5 hours ago

I’ve never spent a dime on music

[-] Unpigged@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 5 hours ago

Unless your music taste is made up of bland faceless corporate pop, I urge you to reconsider and support your favorite musicians.

[-] deadalus@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 4 hours ago

Would visiting concerts count for that?

[-] Unpigged@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 hours ago

Excellent starter. Nowadays even legendary but non mainstream bands can only survive by touring and selling merch directly. Making money off records is viable only to artists who sell millions upon millions of copies

Still, find a direct way to buy a cd, vinyl, mc from that band. Show them you care.

[-] Yukonfooty@lemmy.ca 4 points 6 hours ago

I already switched to Symfonium which streams my digital music library. Not ideal for discovering new music but its been working for me!

[-] ramenshaman@lemmy.world 4 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Time to violate their ToS again and download my Spotify library to my hard drive outside their app. Might switch to Qobuz permanently this time.

[-] Discountsoup@lemmy.world 6 points 7 hours ago

I don’t get it. I downloaded music on napster, then added kazaa files, then limewire files, then megavideo stuff along with youtube rips, and now i just download a song when I like it. Why did everyone else get these subscriptions? Dont you need internet to hear music? You dont own any of it..

[-] raze2012@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

Because too many people don't respect their own time and corporations used this + ZIRP to turn the internet into a ad hellscape of conveniences.

[-] COASTER1921@lemmy.ml 3 points 7 hours ago

We don't have good options for local music discoverability, and the major labels don't have any incentive to even sell music to individuals in the first place anymore. I unfortunately pay for music streaming just because I don't like listening to the same songs over and over. So to me the variety of new songs you can get from the algorithms on streaming services is worth paying for to me. Luckily, I don't need to use Spotify, and just because they're choosing to bundle an AI subscription in to their plans doesn't mean all their competitors will too.

[-] MyVeryRealName@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

Too much work and waste of storage space.

[-] PattyMcB@lemmy.world 8 points 8 hours ago

Looks like I'll have to not use Spotify even harder

[-] thatradomguy@lemmy.world 21 points 11 hours ago

Boycott them already. Stop paying them anything.

[-] barooboodoo@lemmy.zip 1 points 7 hours ago

After the Helsing controversy I dropped them. I miss being able to play local files and better Japanese music coverage but I'm glad my streams are supporting the artists a little more.

[-] shirro@aussie.zone 3 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

Always surprised by music critics/industry types using their data as an indication of artist popularity. It has been generations since real music fans moved to a combination of piracy and directly supporting new artists with merch, vinyl and live shows. I suspect most spotify listeners aren't music fans. It is just something they have on as the background soundtrack to their bland consumerist lives.

[-] Tattorack@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago

Loads of takeaways and cheaper restaurants use Spotify. Often free accounts, as you can hear it play ads.

[-] Fridgeratr@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 hours ago

Tidal has been pretty good, I switched a few years ago

[-] Shayeta@feddit.org 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

I think I might continue using it for music discovery only. For everything else music-related: https://mornye.com/ (mobile and desktop, pulls audio and metadata from multiple providers, rips FLAC and populates metadata, builtin player, syncs library across devices).

Of course, if an artist has bandcamp and I can buy singles I want, I'll continue doing that as well.

[-] Etterra@discuss.online 14 points 12 hours ago

Spotify already sucks and is crammed full of ads. I mean Pandora may be mid but my ad-free tear remains ad-free. I miss when they were the Music Genome Project though.

[-] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 5 points 9 hours ago

Almost ready to host my own music, so I can finally drop Spotify as well

[-] Tattorack@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

Stopped using Spotify a while back.

It has served a great purpose at introducing me to so many artists over the years. But I've been sick of needing an online connection to a service for such a long time.

Now what I do is occasionally visit the playlists I created with hundreds of tracks on them to see what I want to download next over Soulseek, or find on Bandcamp.

[-] mrnngglry@sh.itjust.works 8 points 11 hours ago

It's one of the worst paid music services already. They need to change their ways or die off already.

[-] SethTaylor@lemmy.world 4 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

What's this about Tidal having lax policies on AI? They detect it and you can choose not to see it. Sure, I wish they'd delete it, but I wouldn't call this "lax", as far as mainstream goes anyway. How much better are other platforms doing that Tidal is "lax"?

I mean, I used to see some AI stuff on Tidal, rarely, but after they introduced this option to disable AI I have seen zero.

I can't get Quobuz in my region. Tidal's about as good as it gets

[-] kurcatovium@piefed.social 23 points 16 hours ago

Lol, why would anyone pay for slop? I wouldn't accept this even if they paid me. I like my music exactly the way the artist made it, that's why he's an artist after all. Damn morons at Spotify...

[-] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 3 points 11 hours ago

So AI was supposed to save them money on labour and they want to increase the const for consumers.

Of course they will be double dipping on both ends for massive unregulated profits at the expense of literally everyone but the shareholders and executives.

[-] LazyOldPervert@lemmus.org 12 points 15 hours ago

Then I plan a 100% cancellation

[-] yes@lemmy.zip 17 points 17 hours ago

One weird trick, install Soulseek.

[-] jaykrown@lemmy.world 14 points 16 hours ago

Spotify is screwed, SaaS companies are going down due to AI.

[-] rumba@lemmy.zip 21 points 21 hours ago

Ohh stop, I can't use them less than zero :)

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this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2026
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