Spotify is to start flagging artist profiles whose identity is generated with artificial intelligence. It announced the move on 11 August in its newsroom: the badge is called "AI Persona", it arrives in mid-September and it marks profiles whose persona does not represent anyone real.
It is worth reading what it actually flags. Not music made with AI, but the public identity: the profile's name and images. An artist can lean heavily on AI in production and carry no badge. Self-declaration is already open in Spotify for Artists, and Spotify is also reviewing profiles on its own, starting with those with the largest audiences; anyone flagged is notified and can appeal. By default, flagged profiles are left out of editorial and algorithmic recommendations.
For the electronic scene the nuance matters, because the alias and the faceless project are the norm. As published, the criterion is not aimed at anonymity but at an identity that passes for a real person without being one.
In parallel runs another kind of labelling, one that looks not at identity but at the recording. According to Music Business Worldwide and an EFE wire of 30 July, IFPI is already applying eligibility principles for the official charts, proposed by the three major labels and independent labels: the recording must be substantially human work, the AI service used must be authorised, and the use must be signalled to the consumer. They already apply in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay. Not yet in Spain: the wire places Spain among the markets to which IFPI is working to extend them, alongside Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom, and with no date.
Suno, meanwhile, has opened a waiting list to press onto vinyl whatever is generated on its platform: around $45 plus shipping for a 12-inch PETG record of up to 46 minutes. It is a single made-to-order unit, not a pressing run. The page does not say which countries it ships to or under what rights terms. For anyone booking, the badge will show up in search from September: a quick check on an unfamiliar name. For anyone closing a line-up the problem is a different one: live music demands someone who will get up on stage.