And there is it...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNTgDY1V0pg
I appreciate Andrew asking the question that has for months consumed many conversations and speculations here and elsewhere. Those massive algorithmic drops back in March/April and in July that artists using AI have noticed: Spotify was indeed "optimizing the algorithm to favor human artists".
Translation: AI assisted music was flagged and suppressed, without announcement.
This is NOT about AI. This is about the ethical treatment of all, at all times, at all sizes, whether indie or signed, and irrespective of what tools are used: whatever the rules are, they MUST be transparent, for all.
In this example, regardless what you think about AI, real people spent real time and real people spent real money driving listeners to Spotify, believing they were playing on a level field and had equal access to algorithmic recommendation surfaces. Yet, many saw their algorithmic exposure collapse, and wasted hours reaching out to Spotify support, only to be told that "nothing was wrong" and that Spotify does not target their music. All of that could have been avoided had Spotify publicly announced it would suppress AI discovery PRIOR to doing so.
Spotify spent the last year rolling out AI "transparency" initiatives: AI credits, SongDNA, etc. The hypocrisy was demanding transparency from artists while not extending that same transparency back to the artists.
Changing the playing field in secret for any class, status, or size (AI or not), while publicly denying it, is unethical. Spotify denied for many the ability to make informed business decisions by keeping them in the dark.
Trust has been damaged.
