AI Slop Is Flooding Streaming—and Musicians Are Fighting Back

British singer-songwriter Benedict Cork discovered that someone had run his TikTok snippet of "Something Kinda Strange" through an AI music generator and uploaded the completed version to streaming platforms under a different artist's name, complete with new verses and lyrics. AI-generated tracks now account for 34% of daily uploads to streaming service Deezer (50,000 tracks per day), with scammers targeting mid-level and dormant artists to generate streams and royalties—one North Carolina man pleaded guilty in March to fraud after pocketing over $8 million from AI-generated songs streamed billions of times by bots. Spotify introduced Artist Profile Protection on Tuesday, allowing creators to review releases before they go live, though the problem persists across other platforms and many musicians worry AI songs are crowding out legitimate artists from playlists. The issue has prompted lawmakers in the U.S. and U.K. to draft legislation protecting artists against "synthetic forgeries," while musicians like Cork and indie folk singer Ormella say the industry risks prioritizing machine-made content over human creativity and artistry.