Spotify has wielded artificial intelligence to curate your perfect playlist, personalize your music recommendations, and role play as an AI DJ that talks to you about your music tastes. Now, the streaming platform wants to tell you what your favorite song really means.
Not everyone is pleased with the latest development, however. On Thursday, Grammy-winning artist Lorde took to social media to call out Spotify over its “About the Song” feature and accuse the streaming behemoth of sharing inaccurate information, while also overstepping artistic boundaries. According to Spotify, the new feature is in beta and produces summaries by pulling from “third-party sources to surface interesting details and behind-the-scenes moments.”
On Instagram Stories, Lorde shared a screenshot of a Spotify AI description for her song “Current Affairs,” which read: “On her Ultrasound World Tour, Lorde turns Current Affairs into a full-on performance piece, stripping down to underwear while a dancer pours water over her stomach so the song plays out like the shower scene she talks about on stage.”
In the caption for the post, Lorde tagged the streaming service. “Hey @spotify i’m gonna go out on a limb n say we don’t want this,” wrote Lorde. “Not only is this inaccurate (not the song i did that in) but reducing a song to an ai generated meaning right at the source feels like it limits free interpretation imo. At least make it possible for artists to opt out please.”
Spotify addressed the singer-songwriter’s post in a statement. “We built ‘About the Song’ because fans want to dig into the stories behind the music. It’s still in beta,” said a Spotify spokesperson. “The info comes from articles across the internet, and when something’s off, we move fast to fix it, like we did here. Getting it right matters to us.”
AI-powered tools and music are causing seismic shifts in the music industry. Many of the top artists in the world have been utilizing AI in studios, though it is mostly done behind closed doors for now. In March, Rolling Stone published a report about how producers and songwriters have added AI into their processes, calling it the “don’t ask, don’t tell era of AI in music.”
As AI continues to impact every facet of the industry, both artists and listeners are grappling with how it is changing the way music is both created and consumed. For many who revel in the nuances of a song and its unlimited possibilities, having an AI bot take the mystery out of the experience is rather dull — especially if it can’t get its facts straight.
This article was updated on July 16 at 8:18 p.m. ET to include a statement from a Spotify spokesperson.
