Spotify Sparks Outrage by Publishing AI-Created Songs Under Deceased Artists’ Names
The tracks were uploaded via Syntax Error, a mysterious distributor.
Spotify is facing backlash after AI-generated tracks were published on the official artist pages of deceased musicians—including Blaze Foley and Guy Clark—without approval from their estates or record labels.
One such track, “Together,” appeared briefly on Blaze Foley’s page and featured an AI-generated image of a man who bore no resemblance to Foley. Craig McDonald, owner of Lost Art Records (Foley’s distributor), condemned the release:
“I can clearly tell you that this song is not Blaze… It’s kind of an AI schlock bot… It has nothing to do with the Blaze you know”.
Spotify responded after complaints, stating:
“We've flagged the issue to SoundOn… and it has been removed for violating our Deceptive Content policy” .
The tracks were uploaded via Syntax Error, a mysterious distributor, with similar AI-generated songs also appearing on Guy Clark’s page (“Happened To You”) and on Dan Berk’s account. Reality Defender flagged the content as highly likely to be AI-generated.
McDonald criticised Spotify's vetting process, stating the harm to an artist’s legacy is significant and urged the company to implement stricter controls. He noted that Spotify’s own software engineers could easily prevent such unauthorized uploads.
This incident mirrors previous concerns over generative AI content on Spotify—such as the mysterious AI band Velvet Sundown, which garnered over a million streams without transparency.
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