Spotify Introduces Verified Badges

As AI-generated artists and tracks flood music streaming platforms, Spotify is rolling out a new “Verified by Spotify” badge to help listeners more easily identify authentic human artists. To receive the badge, artists must meet certain criteria. Spotify looks for an identifiable artist presence both on and off platform, like concert dates, merch, and linked social accounts on their artist profile. Profiles that primarily represent AI-generated music or AI-persona artists are not eligible for verification. Additionally, artists must have consistent listener activity and engagement over time. Spotify is focusing on artist profiles that people are actively seeking out over a sustained period of time, rather than those that are experiencing one-time spikes in engagement. At launch, more than 99% of artists that listeners actively search for will be verified. Most are independent, representing a broad mix of genres, career stages, and regions, Spotify says. Users will start to see the new badges appear on artist profiles and next to artist names in search results over the coming weeks. The badges will feature “Verified by Spotify” text alongside a green checkmark.