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

0:03 Speaker 2: little bit of extra time, we do like to share

0:07 Speaker 2: some music industry news on the show. And of course

0:09 Speaker 2: one of my favorite websites to go for that is

0:11 Speaker 2: Music Business Worldwide dot com. Now I think it was

0:14 Speaker 2: it becomes a blur. I think it was either last

0:16 Speaker 2: week or the week before. We talked about how Spotify

0:19 Speaker 2: is doing this thing now where they're giving verified badges

0:24 Speaker 2: to artists. So, and the reason they're doing this is

0:27 Speaker 2: when they give you a badge if you're on Spotify,

0:30 Speaker 2: if you're an artist and your music is on Spotify

0:31 Speaker 2: and they give you a badge that says verified. That

0:34 Speaker 2: means that those songs are verified to be legitimately put

0:41 Speaker 2: there by that artist. So, in other words, if you

0:46 Speaker 2: if you because this happens, this kind of thing happens.

0:49 Speaker 2: People do all kinds of stuff to try to scam

0:53 Speaker 2: the listening public and the purveyors of these websites. If

0:56 Speaker 2: you say you put up a song, you put a

0:59 Speaker 2: song on spot and it's either it's not legitimate, maybe

1:03 Speaker 2: 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

1:10 Speaker 2: account where you claim to be Taylor Swift, but you

1:14 Speaker 2: spell Taylor differently. Maybe you spell a tay l er

1:18 Speaker 2: right and that's your Spotify account instead of how she

1:20 Speaker 2: spells it, and then you put up songs that sound

1:22 Speaker 2: 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

1:26 Speaker 2: that you've done that, they're going to delete that account.

1:29 Speaker 2: But in the meantime, too, you're not going to be

1:30 Speaker 2: able to get verified. Or if you're just making AI

1:34 Speaker 2: generated music and throwing it up there, they call it

1:36 Speaker 2: AI slop. That is the industry term. Again, they're going

1:40 Speaker 2: to they might just delete your account and ban you,

1:43 Speaker 2: but they're certainly not going to give you a verified badge.

1:46 Speaker 2: Verified badge means that you're legitimate, your music is legitimate,

1:49 Speaker 2: and that you are a verified artist. It's similar to

1:52 Speaker 2: what they do on you know they do that on

1:54 Speaker 2: social media platforms. You can get verified quote unquote, usually

1:57 Speaker 2: have to pay for it. It tends to cost money

2:00 Speaker 2: to become a so called verified content creator person who

2:05 Speaker 2: posts on social media whatever it is, right, there's usually

2:07 Speaker 2: a few dollars involved now and part of why I

2:11 Speaker 2: find this so interesting is because it affects me potentially

2:16 Speaker 2: is they are now offering not only verified artists or badges,

2:20 Speaker 2: is the corrector I'm not only verified badges for artists

2:24 Speaker 2: but also for podcasts, and that is important. That affects

2:28 Speaker 2: me because look, I'm an OG podcaster. This show, Matt

2:33 Speaker 2: Connorton Unleashed, we've been at wmn H for it was

2:37 Speaker 2: nine years in April, but even before that, this show

2:40 Speaker 2: existed originally in podcast form. It started as a podcast

2:43 Speaker 2: and then eventually we had the opportunity to bring it

2:45 Speaker 2: to WM and H. But I've been podcasting since the

2:48 Speaker 2: early two thousands. That's what I mean when I say

2:50 Speaker 2: I'm an OG podcaster. Unfortunately I didn't, you know, strike

2:54 Speaker 2: that that nerve where I went on to, you know,

2:58 Speaker 2: because Joe Rogan is an OG podcast and he's rich

3:01 Speaker 2: and famous and I'm not. I guess this is what

3:02 Speaker 2: I'm trying to say. So, but I have been around

3:05 Speaker 2: doing this for a long time. So this show, like

3:10 Speaker 2: like the other shows here at WM and H, just

3:12 Speaker 2: like the Morning Show with Peter White for example, and others,

3:17 Speaker 2: they go up, you know, once they're done going out live,

3:20 Speaker 2: you know, we record them and then they go on

3:22 Speaker 2: on the website and they go they go online. They

3:25 Speaker 2: become podcasts. Everything becomes a podcast once it's available online

3:29 Speaker 2: to download, stream listen at your convenience. And one of

3:34 Speaker 2: the places that we put this show is Spotify and

3:37 Speaker 2: various other you know, you can get Matt Connerton Unleashed

3:41 Speaker 2: anywhere where you where you find your favorite podcasts. You

3:43 Speaker 2: can subscribe, and you can find it on YouTube, like

3:45 Speaker 2: and subscribe if you do all of that. Plus I

3:48 Speaker 2: have other podcasts and I'm involved in, like Tough Bumps

3:50 Speaker 2: for example, or the Mister Iguana Show as somebody likes

3:53 Speaker 2: to refer to it, So you can you can find

3:57 Speaker 2: all that on Spotify, and anyone can submit their podcast

4:01 Speaker 2: to Spotify. But what if someone submits a podcast pretending

4:06 Speaker 2: to be someone else? What if it's counterfeit? What if

4:08 Speaker 2: what if somebody else decides to impersonate me? You know,

4:13 Speaker 2: what if someone decides to do something called, you know,

4:16 Speaker 2: Matt Connerton unbridled or something or you know, you know,

4:23 Speaker 2: Matt Connerton unrestrained, and then they and then they do

4:27 Speaker 2: an impression of me and they try to pass it

4:28 Speaker 2: 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

4:33 Speaker 2: report that to Spotify and hopefully they get banned. But

4:36 Speaker 2: in the meantime, until I notice it, I'll tell you

4:39 Speaker 2: one thing, They're not going to be able to get

4:40 Speaker 2: a verified badge because it is not a legitimate podcast.

4:44 Speaker 2: So this is again, this is from Music Business Worldwide

4:47 Speaker 2: dot com. Let's look at this quickly. Spotify extends verified

4:51 Speaker 2: badges to podcasts, further cracking down on AI impersonations. So

4:57 Speaker 2: it says here Spotify is expanding it's Verified by Spotify

5:00 Speaker 2: badge program to podcasts. The move, announced on Tuesday, extends

5:05 Speaker 2: to podcast shows the same verification system that Spotify launched

5:10 Speaker 2: for music artists profiles in April. It comes amid growing

5:15 Speaker 2: industry concern over the flood of AI generated podcast content

5:19 Speaker 2: on streaming platforms, with data from Podcasts Index suggesting that

5:24 Speaker 2: AI generated shows now account for more than a third

5:29 Speaker 2: of new podcast feeds. Let's linger on that for just

5:33 Speaker 2: a moment, or let's linger longer for you Opie and

5:37 Speaker 2: Anthony fans. If you know the reference, Think about how

5:44 Speaker 2: many podcasts there are. There's a lot of podcasts. Everybody

5:47 Speaker 2: has a podcast. I mean, you know, if you're expecting

5:52 Speaker 2: a baby, you're probably as you're making these decisions, you're

5:55 Speaker 2: probably thinking about, you know, where you're going to send

5:58 Speaker 2: them to school. You know what their name is going

6:00 Speaker 2: to be, obviously, you know, and what you think the

6:03 Speaker 2: subject and name of their podcasts should be when they

6:06 Speaker 2: do one. Because everybody has a podcast. Now, there was

6:11 Speaker 2: a saw a homeless gentleman earlier with a sign and

6:17 Speaker 2: 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,

6:28 Speaker 2: God only knows how many podcasts there are and how

6:30 Speaker 2: many new podcasts there are that are going up every

6:33 Speaker 2: single day right. According to podcast Index, AI, generated shows

6:40 Speaker 2: 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

6:51 Speaker 2: the badge the verified badge, a light green check mark

6:53 Speaker 2: accompanied by the words verified by Spotify, will appear on

6:56 Speaker 2: podcast show pages and in search results. I dentifies a

7:00 Speaker 2: show as the official presence of a creator, publisher, or brand,

7:03 Speaker 2: according to Spotify. Spotify said in a blog post that

7:07 Speaker 2: the badge quote signals the show has been reviewed against

7:09 Speaker 2: Spotify's standards for authenticity and trust, helping listeners understand who

7:14 Speaker 2: they're hearing while giving creators a clear, credible way to

7:17 Speaker 2: establish their identity on our platform. The concept of authenticity

7:22 Speaker 2: and podcasting is complex and quickly evolving, and will continue

7:25 Speaker 2: 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

7:32 Speaker 2: can quote confidently authenticate unquote based on a combination of

7:37 Speaker 2: sustained listener activity, good standing with the platform policies, and

7:42 Speaker 2: verified audience authenticity, including safeguards against bot driven listenership. So,

7:47 Speaker 2: in other words, you know, because you can put a podcast,

7:50 Speaker 2: whether it be Spotify, this happens on YouTube constantly. You know,

7:53 Speaker 2: you can have you can buy views, you can buy

7:56 Speaker 2: listens and their bots that go and listen to your podcast,

8:01 Speaker 2: and then that, you know, artificially inflates your numbers. Uh

8:05 Speaker 2: so they're they're looking for that too. When they're deciding

8:08 Speaker 2: whether or not to verify you, Spotify said, oh, actually,

8:14 Speaker 2: never mind, let's go down. Let's skip down a little bit.

8:17 Speaker 2: Select shows will begin displaying the badge immediately, with a

8:20 Speaker 2: wider rollout expected over the coming months across Spotify's library

8:24 Speaker 2: of more than seven million podcast titles. Again, just think

8:30 Speaker 2: 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

8:48 Speaker 2: you don't have a podcast, you will someday, I'm quite

8:51 Speaker 2: sure of it. Alongside the verification badges, Spotify also use

8:57 Speaker 2: the announcement to reaffirm it stance on AI generated impersonation

9:01 Speaker 2: in podcasting. Spotify said, quote, our policies have always prohibited

9:05 Speaker 2: unauthorized impersonation. Today we're reaffirming this policy and the context

9:10 Speaker 2: of AI.

9:11 Speaker 1: Spotify will remove.

9:12 Speaker 2: Podcast shows and content that impersonate another creator or hosts

9:15 Speaker 2: likeness without permission, whether that's using AI, voice cloning, or

9:20 Speaker 2: any other method unquote. Spotify described the update says, quote

9:25 Speaker 2: the first in a series of steps we're taking to

9:27 Speaker 2: support a more trustworthy podcast ecosystem for creators, partners, and listeners.

9:32 Speaker 2: As creation becomes more accessible, the need for clarity and

9:35 Speaker 2: trust becomes even more important unquote. The podcast verification pushes

9:39 Speaker 2: the latest in a series of measures Spotify is rolled

9:41 Speaker 2: out in twenty twenty six, aimed at reinforcing creator identity

9:45 Speaker 2: 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,

9:53 Speaker 2: which lets music artists review and approve releases before they

9:57 Speaker 2: appear on their profiles. In April, I began showing AI

10:01 Speaker 2: credits and song credits, allowing listeners to see where artificial

10:05 Speaker 2: intelligence was used in making a track, though the feature

10:08 Speaker 2: depends on voluntary artists disclosure. And by the way, a

10:14 Speaker 2: note about that. That's understandable because that can get complicated

10:17 Speaker 2: 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,

10:24 Speaker 2: you know there are programs being used on those computers

10:27 Speaker 2: in recording studios that use AI in some way. So

10:30 Speaker 2: there's more to this. There's more to this article. We're

10:32 Speaker 2: not gonna have time to get through the whole thing,

10:34 Speaker 2: but you can find this again at Music Business Worldwide

10:36 Speaker 2: dot com, one of my favorite sites for music industry news,

10:39 Speaker 2: and the article is titled Spotify extends verified badges to podcasts,

10:43 Speaker 2: So you can check that out there