AI hitmaker welcomes Spotify’s cleanup but warns of false removals

Artist Kevin Hølmer-Hansen, behind the TikTok hit “Blink Til Mig”, welcomes Spotify’s removal of AI-generated music but says the platform could mistakenly remove artists’ work, DR reports.

Spotify says it has removed more than 75 million tracks it classifies as AI-generated “slop and spam”. More than 50 million AI-generated tracks have also been removed from users’ recommendations.

Hølmer-Hansen, who performs as Kevinsky, says his music remains on Spotify and does not belong to the kind of mass-produced content the service is targeting. He writes his own lyrics, works on the sound and chooses the instruments and vocals. He describes AI as a tool that still allows him to use his creativity.

He says there is a difference between using an AI service to generate a complete song from a few prompts and shaping a track oneself with the technology. He also argues that AI music should not be treated as a single category, pointing to the role of human creativity and the importance of respecting copyright and not releasing music under another person’s identity.

Anders Søgaard, a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of Copenhagen, says it can be difficult to distinguish AI-generated music from human-made music by listening alone. Platforms may also look for clues such as unusual upload patterns or large amounts of similar music from new accounts, but those methods are not foolproof.

Søgaard warns that relying on content alone could lead to artists being caught up in the cleanup even if their work is not the kind of mass-produced material Spotify wants to remove. Spotify has also begun labelling AI-generated music, but the label does not yet appear on Hølmer-Hansen’s tracks.