Spotify roots out fake podcasts | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: I saw some interesting news.

0:01 Speaker 2: You know, we do when we find ourselves with a little bit of extra time, we do like to share some music industry news on the show. And of course one of my favorite websites to go for that is Music Business Worldwide dot com. Now I think it was it becomes a blur. I think it was either last week or the week before. We talked about how Spotify is doing this thing now where they're giving verified badges to artists. So, and the reason they're doing this is when they give you a badge if you're on Spotify, if you're an artist and your music is on Spotify and they give you a badge that says verified.

0:34 Speaker 2: That means that those songs are verified to be legitimately put there by that artist. So, in other words, if you if you because this happens, this kind of thing happens. People do all kinds of stuff to try to scam the listening public and the purveyors of these websites. If you say you put up a song, you put a song on spot and it's either it's not legitimate, maybe you're trying to pass yourself off as somebody else.

1:06 Speaker 1: Maybe you're trying to.

1:07 Speaker 2: Pass yourself off as Taylor Swift. Maybe you create an account where you claim to be Taylor Swift, but you spell Taylor differently. Maybe you spell a tay l er right and that's your Spotify account instead of how she spells it, and then you put up songs that sound like her.

1:23 Speaker 1: You know you are not well.

1:23 Speaker 2: First of all, once Spotify, once the bots figure out that you've done that, they're going to delete that account. But in the meantime, too, you're not going to be able to get verified. Or if you're just making AI generated music and throwing it up there, they call it AI slop. That is the industry term. Again, they're going to they might just delete your account and ban you, but they're certainly not going to give you a verified badge. Verified badge means that you're legitimate, your music is legitimate, and that you are a verified artist.

1:51 Speaker 2: It's similar to what they do on you know they do that on social media platforms. You can get verified quote unquote, usually have to pay for it. It tends to cost money to become a so called verified content creator person who posts on social media whatever it is, right, there's usually a few dollars involved now and part of why I find this so interesting is because it affects me potentially is they are now offering not only verified artists or badges, is the corrector I'm not only verified badges for artists but also for podcasts, and that is important.

2:27 Speaker 2: That affects me because look, I'm an OG podcaster. This show, Matt Connorton Unleashed, we've been at wmn H for it was nine years in April, but even before that, this show existed originally in podcast form. It started as a podcast and then eventually we had the opportunity to bring it to WM and H. But I've been podcasting since the early two thousands. That's what I mean when I say I'm an OG podcaster. Unfortunately I didn't, you know, strike that that nerve where I went on to, you know, because Joe Rogan is an OG podcast and he's rich and famous and I'm not.

3:02 Speaker 2: I guess this is what I'm trying to say. So, but I have been around doing this for a long time. So this show, like like the other shows here at WM and H, just like the Morning Show with Peter White for example, and others, they go up, you know, once they're done going out live, you know, we record them and then they go on on the website and they go they go online. They become podcasts. Everything becomes a podcast once it's available online to download, stream listen at your convenience. And one of the places that we put this show is Spotify and various other you know, you can get Matt Connerton Unleashed anywhere where you where you find your favorite podcasts.

3:43 Speaker 2: You can subscribe, and you can find it on YouTube, like and subscribe if you do all of that. Plus I have other podcasts and I'm involved in, like Tough Bumps for example, or the Mister Iguana Show as somebody likes to refer to it, So you can you can find all that on Spotify, and anyone can submit their podcast to Spotify. But what if someone submits a podcast pretending to be someone else? What if it's counterfeit? What if what if somebody else decides to impersonate me? You know, what if someone decides to do something called, you know, Matt Connerton unbridled or something or you know, you know, Matt Connerton unrestrained, and then they and then they do an impression of me and they try to pass it off as me, and they upload the podcast to Spotify.

4:31 Speaker 2: Well hopefully if I notice it, obviously I'm going to report that to Spotify and hopefully they get banned. But in the meantime, until I notice it, I'll tell you one thing, They're not going to be able to get a verified badge because it is not a legitimate podcast. So this is again, this is from Music Business Worldwide dot com. Let's look at this quickly. Spotify extends verified badges to podcasts, further cracking down on AI impersonations. So it says here Spotify is expanding it's Verified by Spotify badge program to podcasts.

5:02 Speaker 2: The move, announced on Tuesday, extends to podcast shows the same verification system that Spotify launched for music artists profiles in April. It comes amid growing industry concern over the flood of AI generated podcast content on streaming platforms, with data from Podcasts Index suggesting that AI generated shows now account for more than a third of new podcast feeds. Let's linger on that for just a moment, or let's linger longer for you Opie and Anthony fans. If you know the reference, Think about how many podcasts there are.

5:45 Speaker 2: There's a lot of podcasts. Everybody has a podcast. I mean, you know, if you're expecting a baby, you're probably as you're making these decisions, you're probably thinking about, you know, where you're going to send them to school. You know what their name is going to be, obviously, you know, and what you think the subject and name of their podcasts should be when they do one. Because everybody has a podcast. Now, there was a saw a homeless gentleman earlier with a sign and it actually had a URL on his sign for his podcast.

6:21 Speaker 1: So everyone has a podcast.

6:25 Speaker 2: But think so when you think about just I mean, who, God only knows how many podcasts there are and how many new podcasts there are that are going up every single day right. According to podcast Index, AI, generated shows now account for more than a third more than a third.

6:44 Speaker 1: Of new podcast feeds.

6:47 Speaker 2: That's a lot that is shocking, Okay, it says here the badge the verified badge, a light green check mark accompanied by the words verified by Spotify, will appear on podcast show pages and in search results. I dentifies a show as the official presence of a creator, publisher, or brand, according to Spotify. Spotify said in a blog post that the badge quote signals the show has been reviewed against Spotify's standards for authenticity and trust, helping listeners understand who they're hearing while giving creators a clear, credible way to establish their identity on our platform.

7:20 Speaker 2: The concept of authenticity and podcasting is complex and quickly evolving, and will continue to develop our approach over time.

7:28 Speaker 1: Unquote.

7:29 Speaker 2: Spotify said verification eligibility will focus on shows the platform can quote confidently authenticate unquote based on a combination of sustained listener activity, good standing with the platform policies, and verified audience authenticity, including safeguards against bot driven listenership. So, in other words, you know, because you can put a podcast, whether it be Spotify, this happens on YouTube constantly. You know, you can have you can buy views, you can buy listens and their bots that go and listen to your podcast, and then that, you know, artificially inflates your numbers.

8:05 Speaker 2: Uh so they're they're looking for that too. When they're deciding whether or not to verify you, Spotify said, oh, actually, never mind, let's go down. Let's skip down a little bit. Select shows will begin displaying the badge immediately, with a wider rollout expected over the coming months across Spotify's library of more than seven million podcast titles. Again, just think about that, linger on that for a moment.

8:33 Speaker 1: Seven million. That means there are currently.

8:37 Speaker 2: More than seven million different podcasts on Spotify.

8:44 Speaker 1: I'm telling you everybody has.

8:45 Speaker 2: If you are listening to the show right now and you don't have a podcast, you will someday, I'm quite sure of it. Alongside the verification badges, Spotify also use the announcement to reaffirm it stance on AI generated impersonation in podcasting. Spotify said, quote, our policies have always prohibited unauthorized impersonation. Today we're reaffirming this policy and the context of AI.

9:11 Speaker 1: Spotify will remove.

9:12 Speaker 2: Podcast shows and content that impersonate another creator or hosts likeness without permission, whether that's using AI, voice cloning, or any other method unquote. Spotify described the update says, quote the first in a series of steps we're taking to support a more trustworthy podcast ecosystem for creators, partners, and listeners. As creation becomes more accessible, the need for clarity and trust becomes even more important unquote. The podcast verification pushes the latest in a series of measures Spotify is rolled out in twenty twenty six, aimed at reinforcing creator identity and combating AI generated content.

9:47 Speaker 1: Across its platform.

9:49 Speaker 2: In March, Spotify launched its Artist Profile protection feature in beta, which lets music artists review and approve releases before they appear on their profiles. In April, I began showing AI credits and song credits, allowing listeners to see where artificial intelligence was used in making a track, though the feature depends on voluntary artists disclosure. And by the way, a note about that. That's understandable because that can get complicated because look, there's so much AI already used in music.

10:21 Speaker 2: You know, even if you go to a recording studio, you know there are programs being used on those computers in recording studios that use AI in some way. So there's more to this. There's more to this article. We're not gonna have time to get through the whole thing, but you can find this again at Music Business Worldwide dot com, one of my favorite sites for music industry news, and the article is titled Spotify extends verified badges to podcasts, So you can check that out there