sr director, global head of marketing & policy, music business, @spotify
nyc
Joined February 2009
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nice overview from the @nytimes on each streaming service's approach to AI music.
nytimes.com/interactive/2026…
Sam Duboff retweeted
Spotify's mission to curb the rise of AI-generated music has resulted in the removal of 50 million AI slop tracks from users’ recommendations.
The 50 million removed tracks follow the more than 75 million AI songs that Spotify pulled completely from the platform after they were flagged as spam. According to Spotify, the 50 million AI-generated tracks are still available but a user would have to actively seek them out to find them.
variety.com/2026/music/news/…
Sam Duboff retweeted
A year ago, we shared our plans to protect artists and listeners from spam, impersonation, and deception in the age of AI. One idea has guided those plans: human artistry comes first.
Since then, our teams have been working hard to make that real. We looked closely at the tracks listeners were skipping, ignoring, or telling us they didn't want to hear. We’ve made numerous updates to our recommendation system to remove slop and spam, and ensure we’re highlighting music made by authentic, human artists. This year alone, we’ve taken 50M+ slop and spam tracks out of recommendations.
That work builds on the tools we’ve launched over the past year, including Verified by Spotify, AI Persona badges, AI Credits, and Artist Profile Protection, to give artists more control and listeners more context.
Artists should be able to trust that their name and their work are theirs. Listeners should be able to trust what they’re hearing. There’s more to do, but today we’re recapping the progress we’ve made keeping Spotify a trusted place for artists and listeners.
a year ago, we announced our approach to protecting artists & listeners in the age of AI. since then, we've been busy putting a wide range of protections in place. here's our progress on spam, AI credits, AI persona labeling, verified by spotify, etc.:
newsroom.spotify.com/2026-10…
over the past decade, tens of thousands of indie artists have gotten their first big look on our Fresh Finds playlists. today, @spotifyartists is launching the next era — Fresh Finds Forward — going beyond just a playlist placement ... into a year-long program for 10,000 indie artists per year with troves of resources, community, & support.
we're thinking long-term here — lots of new benefits & programming to be added in the coming months. get ready to see Fresh Finds pop up in lots of new places.
read more about everything Fresh Finds Forward here: newsroom.spotify.com/2026-09…
Sam Duboff retweeted
Protecting artist rights requires transparency, consent, and collaboration. During a recent visit to Australia, Spotify’s @duboff sat down with @abcnews to discuss our proactive approach to keeping human artistry at the forefront. Read more: abc.net.au/news/2026-07-16/s…
had a fun time with @heypoppyreid during my trip to australia, chatting about AI music, spotify royalties, promotional tools, the local music scene, and a lot more.
open.spotify.com/episode/1qZ…
Sam Duboff retweeted
‘We’re Trying to Bet Big on Human Artistry’: Spotify’s Sam Duboff Talks AI Initiatives
billboard.com/pro/spotify-sa…
following up on this year's launches of Verified by Spotify, Artist Profile Protection, AI Credits, and SongDNA, today we're announcing our next major 'artist identity & trust' feature: AI Personas.
the new badge will make it clear to listeners when an artist's identity is AI-generated (and not a real human), and songs from AI personas will not be included in spotify programming by default.
newsroom.spotify.com/2026-08…
got to have this in-depth conversation about all sorts of hot topics facing the australian artist community during my trip to sydney. appreciated the time to get into the details:
themusic.com.au/industry/a-l…
Sam Duboff retweeted
Last month we enabled video uploads inside Spotify for Artists - live performances, covers, music videos. The aim was to give you another way to tell your story where fans are already listening.
Today’s update takes that a step further:
- You can now pitch videos for playlist consideration (same flow that you know for songs).
- We’re launching Global Music Video Charts to highlight what’s trending worldwide.
had a great week in australia talking with artists, labels, & policymakers about our big investments to protect human artistry and the music industry in the age of AI.
The world's largest music streamer is spending heavily to prevent artificially generated slop from reaching its platform. ebx.sh/uVEoYP
really big milestone today — now even more artists can upload full-length videos directly through @spotifyartists (think live performances, studio sessions, covers, official music videos, etc.).
we'll be expanding to even more artists soon (and you can continue to deliver video through your label or distributor, too). to simplify things, we're transitioning away from Clips into this new video upload experience.
artists.spotify.com/blog/upl…
Sam Duboff retweeted
Spotify And UMG Announce Licensing Deal To Allow for AI Covers and Remixes
billboard.com/pro/spotify-an…
Sam Duboff retweeted
With all of the advances in AI, a lot of users have been asking us for better verification of who is a real artist or musical act in 2026. So - following up on our launch of SongDNA last month - a feature that traces the full history and craft of all the participants that went it to creating any track on Spotify (and that already has 52+ million users after only 4 weeks!) - we are now also launching the ”The Verified by Spotify” program, to help you as a listener easily understand what you’re hearing, from a trusted source. We hope you’ll like it. 💚🎶
Authenticity means something different in 2026. We increasingly hear from fans that they want more confidence in trusting what they find on Spotify. They want to know whether they're discovering an artist pursuing music as a career, playing gigs, connecting with fans — or whether it's a persona, a content farm, or some kind of spam.
We have shipped (and continue to build) systems to catch suspicious activity and fight deceptive behavior. But positively verifying what IS authentic also has an important role to play. So today we're starting to roll out something new: a Verified by Spotify badge.
When fans see the badge, they'll know the Spotify team has reviewed the artist to confirm sustained active fan interest, compliance with platform rules, and an authentic profile (the artist is who they claim to be). This is a manual process, so we are starting by reviewing hundreds of thousands of artists that represent over 99% of what listeners search for, and will expand to review more artists over time.
in the age of AI, authenticity & trust have never been more important, and we've been hearing consistently from fans that it's harder than ever to know what's legitimate. so we've made 'artist Identity & trust' one of our very top priorities in 2026. in the past weeks at @spotifyartists, we've rolled out Artist Profile Protection (so artists can protect their profiles from bad actors) and AI credits (so artists can be transparent with listeners when AI plays a significant role in their creative process).
today, we're launching our next effort — Verified by Spotify. as AI tools get more sophisticated and the amount of music released multiplies, it's going to get harder and harder for platforms to identify everything that is deceptive with reliability. that makes it more important than ever for platforms to affirmatively certify and elevate what is *real* and authentic. our team is reviewing hundreds of thousands of artist profiles to designate artists who are presenting themselves authentically (they are who they say they are) and are building a career in music (not content farms or deceptive AI). manual reviews take a lot of time, so we'll be rolling out the program on an ongoing basis.
we also added a new 'artist details' section to all profiles. think of them like nutritional facts you read before eating packaged goods — but for music! they're based on spotify data, helping fans identify which artists are actively touring, getting playlisted, building a catalog over years.
read more here: newsroom.spotify.com/2026-04…
we announced a new beta feature last week: as artists start submitting detailed AI credits through their label or distributor, they'll be displayed across spotify.
this is just a first step in our long-term commitment to transparency for listeners (songDNA & expanded song credits as other recent examples). we know it's not a complete solution on its own — building a truly comprehensive system is a challenge that requires industry-wide alignment — but we didn't want to wait to get started.
Spotify Launches AI Credits: Artists Can Now Disclose Tech’s Use in Their Songs
billboard.com/pro/spotify-la…
