Spotify is under fire after reports emerged that it published AI-generated songs on the official pages of artists who died years ago — without the consent of their estates or labels.
One example involves Blaze Foley, a Texas country singer-songwriter who was killed in 1989. A new track titled ‘Together’ appeared on Foley’s official Spotify page on July 14, complete with AI-generated cover art and a modern-sounding country ballad that didn’t match Foley’s style.
Craig McDonald, owner of Lost Art Records — the label responsible for Foley’s music and Spotify page — spoke with 404Media and said the track was “nowhere near Blaze’s style” and described it as “an AI schlock bot.” He emphasized that the song has “the authenticity of an algorithm,” and told reporters the label had no involvement in its release.
McDonald said the song was flagged over the weekend and that his team alerted their distributor, Secretly Distribution, though they haven’t received a response. He also called on Spotify to add safeguards preventing content from being published on an artist’s official page without approval.
“It’s harmful to Blaze’s standing that this happened,” McDonald said. “It’s kind of surprising that Spotify doesn’t have a security fix for this type of action, and I think the responsibility is all on Spotify. They could fix this problem.”
AI tracks linked to TikTok’s SoundOn and mystery distributor
Spotify later confirmed the song violated its Deceptive Content policy and said it was removed after being flagged. The track was distributed through SoundOn, a platform owned by TikTok that allows direct uploads to TikTok and other music services. A TikTok spokesperson said both the song and the uploader’s account have been taken down.
The AI-generated Blaze Foley song wasn’t an isolated case. Another track, “Happened To You,” was uploaded last week to the Spotify page of Guy Clark, a Grammy-winning country artist who died in 2016. A third, “with you” by Dan Berk, also featured the same copyright tag: “Syntax Error.” Reality Defender, a deepfake detection company, said all three tracks showed signs of AI generation.
As of now, no verified company named Syntax Error appears to be behind the uploads, and Dan Berk has not commented.
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