"My dad texted me: "Have you heard of Mel McCoy from the Country Bayou Blues Band?" Attached was a Spotify link and an image of a haggard old blues man in a cowboy hat. While my knowledge of wrinkly blues men ain't bad, I hadn't heard of him...because well, he didn't exist. The song was AI-generated, a synthetic blues track wrapped in a fake persona."
"That small exchange, sent a jolt through me. It made me realize how quickly the ground beneath us was shifting. Spotify was now quietly filling with music made by absolutely no one at all. Spotify's AI Crackdown (the Numbers That Don't Add Up) Recently, Spotify announced that it had removed more than 75 million "spammy" AI-generated tracks from the platform. Hard to believe as they purport to have just over 100 million tracks in total, which"
A longtime musical bond existed between a listener and their father, built on 1960s blues recommendations and shared record-player memories. A text recommending Mel McCoy revealed a synthetic blues track and a fabricated artist persona. The discovery exposed AI-generated music infiltrating streaming catalogs and eroded trust in playlist recommendations. Spotify reported removing over 75 million "spammy" AI-generated tracks despite claiming roughly 100 million total tracks, raising doubts about reported numbers. The episode highlights challenges in content authenticity, platform moderation, and the emotional impact of synthetic media on interpersonal musical connections.
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