Editorial
Spotify Adds Verified Badge Amid AI Music Surge
Spotify Adds Verified Badge Amid AI Music Surge as new checkmark helps listeners identify verified human artists
AI-generated music has taken over streaming platforms, raising concerns around fake artist profiles, impersonation, and whether listeners can verify the authenticity of the artists behind the music. To address this, Spotify has introduced its new Verified by Spotify badge, a green checkmark that will appear on eligible artist profiles and search results to highlight verified human artists. The update marks a shift from basic profile ownership to artist authenticity, with Spotify assessing signals such as sustained listener activity, linked social accounts, concert dates, merch, platform policy standing, and human review. At launch, profiles that mainly represent AI-generated artists or AI-persona artists will not be eligible, making the badge one of Spotify’s clearest responses yet to the growing presence of AI music on streaming platforms.
How Spotify’s New Checkmark Uses Real Activity Signals To Verify Artist Authenticity
The new Verified by Spotify badge is not being applied simply because an artist has access to their profile. Spotify says the badge will appear as a light green checkmark with the text “Verified by Spotify” on eligible artist profiles and beside artist names in search results, making the verification visible at the exact points where listeners search for and judge an artist account. The platform is assessing artist profiles through a wider set of authenticity signals, including sustained listener activity over time, linked social accounts, concert dates, merch, policy standing, and human review. That makes the badge different from the older artist checkmark, which mainly showed that a profile had been claimed through Spotify for Artists. This new version is more focused on whether the artist profile shows consistent, traceable activity beyond music uploads alone.
For Spotify, that distinction matters because AI-generated music has made artist identity harder to verify across streaming platforms. A profile can now upload music, use a synthetic image, build an artist persona, and appear next to established acts in search results without the same real-world footprint that listeners usually associate with working artists. By looking at activity signals such as audience history, official social links, live dates, merch, and human review, Spotify is trying to separate active artist accounts from profiles that mainly exist as AI personas, impersonation attempts, or low-context catalog uploads. At launch, profiles that primarily represent AI-generated artists or AI-persona artists will not be eligible for the badge, which positions Verified by Spotify as more than a cosmetic update. It turns artist verification into a public trust signal at a time when listeners, labels, and artists are dealing with a streaming environment where authenticity is no longer obvious from a profile name alone.
Why Artist Verification Matters As AI-Generated Tracks Reach Streaming Charts
The need for Spotify’s new verification system becomes clearer when AI-generated music is no longer limited to anonymous uploads sitting at the edge of streaming platforms. One of the most visible examples came from HAVEN., the British electronic duo behind I Run, a viral dance track that gained major traction on TikTok and climbed as high as No. 11 on Spotify’s U.S. chart before being pulled from major platforms. The controversy centered on the song’s AI-assisted vocals, which listeners and rights holders linked to similarities with Jorja Smith. The FADER reported that the track was taken down from TikTok and streaming platforms around November 14, 2025, after industry groups flagged it under copyright and impersonation policies. HAVEN. later re-recorded the song with singer Kaitlin Aragon, but the case had already shown how quickly an AI-assisted track could move from viral attention to official platform action.
That is why Verified by Spotify carries more weight than a standard checkmark. The issue is not only whether a song uses AI somewhere in the creative process, but whether listeners are being given enough context to verify who is behind an artist profile, a vocal sound, or a track gaining traction through algorithmic discovery. In the I Run case, the dispute became serious because the song was not just another upload. It had chart visibility, public confusion around possible artist involvement, and reported claims from Jorja Smith’s label FAMM, which alleged that the vocals created a misleading connection to Jorja Smith. For streaming platforms, that kind of case turns artist authenticity into a practical trust issue. A visible verification badge will not solve every AI music dispute, but it gives Spotify a clearer way to separate reviewed artist accounts from profiles or releases that raise questions around impersonation, AI personas, and unclear creative ownership.
Spotify Is Not Banning AI Music, But It Is Drawing A Line Around Artist Identity
Spotify’s new badge does not amount to a full ban on AI-assisted music. The platform’s position is more specific: AI can be part of a creative workflow, but artist identity cannot be treated as flexible once a profile, voice, or public name creates confusion around who is actually behind the release. That distinction has become more important as AI tools make it easier to create songs, synthetic vocals, fictional artist images, and catalog-style profiles at scale. The badge also follows earlier moves from Spotify that show the platform has been tightening its approach to artist identity before this latest rollout. In September 2025, Spotify introduced an impersonation policy clarifying that music using another artist’s cloned voice without permission can be removed, whether the vocal clone was created with AI or by other means.
The platform has also been testing Artist Profile Protection, a feature designed to stop misattributed releases from appearing on the wrong artist profile, including cases caused by metadata errors, similar artist names, or bad actors attaching music to established accounts. Together, those updates show that Verified by Spotify is part of a broader identity issue, not just a new visual label. The question is not only whether a track includes AI, but whether the artist page, vocal identity, and release credit give listeners a truthful picture of who is being represented. By keeping AI-generated artist and AI-persona artist profiles outside verification at launch, Spotify is setting a public boundary around identity without claiming that every AI-assisted release should be removed from the platform.
What Spotify’s Verified Badge Signals For The Future Of AI Music
Spotify’s new verification badge is unlikely to settle the wider debate around AI music, but it gives the industry a clearer direction for what platform accountability may look like next. As synthetic vocals, AI-assisted releases, and fictional artist projects become easier to distribute, streaming services will face more pressure to make artist information easier to verify before songs reach playlists, charts, and recommendation feeds. The issue is no longer only about whether a track was made with AI. It is also about whether platforms can give listeners enough context before confusion turns into chart visibility, rights disputes, or misleading artist associations.
For Spotify, the badge places verification closer to the everyday listening experience, where most users encounter artists through search results, recommendations, and viral tracks instead of label announcements or official press materials. That shift matters because AI music will continue to develop across different parts of the industry, from production tools to fully synthetic projects, and a single checkmark will not answer questions around disclosure, royalties, cloned vocals, or crediting. What it does show is that streaming platforms are beginning to treat artist credibility as something listeners should be able to see, not something hidden behind internal review systems. As AI-generated music continues moving through the same channels as human-made releases, tools like Verified by Spotify could become part of a larger standard for transparency across digital music.
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The science behind why dancing to EDM can feel therapeutic and support emotional regulation, movement and social connection
Have you ever wondered why people say “EDM is therapy” or “raving is therapy” after spending hours dancing at a festival or club? For many people, it is not just about enjoying the music, but about the way repeated movement, familiar tracks and dancing alongside other people can leave them feeling calmer, more connected or mentally lighter afterwards. Those descriptions are usually casual, but they point to something researchers have increasingly been studying through the relationship between music, movement and emotional regulation. Recent work has examined how physical responses to music can affect psychological wellbeing, while studies involving dance music attendees have looked more closely at what happens when movement and shared emotion come together on the dancefloor. A 2025 study involving 612 dance music event attendees found that a stronger desire to dance was associated with greater embodied pleasure, which was closely linked with emotional synchrony and social connection. Alongside emerging research into conscious dance and trauma recovery, those findings offer a scientific basis for examining why dancing to EDM can feel therapeutic, and where the comparison between raving and therapy actually holds up.
Why Dancing to EDM Can Help the Body Process Stress
A 2026 study published in Psychological Trauma examined a conscious dance and expressive arts intervention called Rhythms of Resilience among adults with complex trauma histories. The program combined mindful movement to music with expressive arts across six weekly group sessions, with researchers looking at whether the intervention could support self-regulation and social connectedness. Half of the participants who completed the program reported clinically significant reductions in post-traumatic symptoms, while the group also showed increases in compassion and social engagement. The study did not find measurable changes in emotion regulation itself, which is important because it limits how far the findings can be taken. What it does suggest is that structured movement to music may support some of the psychological and social processes linked with recovery, particularly when movement is combined with reflection and group participation. That makes it relevant to the discussion around dancing to EDM, where repeated movement, music and shared participation are already central parts of the experience.
In a dance music setting, the significance may lie in how little conscious effort that movement requires once someone is fully engaged with the music. Instead of deliberately trying to regulate an emotion, attention can shift toward the beat, the physical repetition and what is happening in the present moment, which may temporarily reduce the amount of focus given to stress or intrusive thoughts. That could help explain why people often describe long periods of dancing to EDM as mentally clearing or releasing, even when they struggle to explain exactly why afterwards. The effect is also likely to vary from person to person, since music preference, comfort in the setting and personal associations with certain tracks can all influence how someone responds. In that sense, the therapeutic feeling may come less from EDM itself and more from what sustained movement to personally meaningful music allows the mind and body to do for a period of time
From Personal Recovery to Collective Release Through Dance
Dancing can take on a different role when the music connects with something an artist or audience is already trying to work through, which is why certain performances can mean far more than simply seeing a DJ play. Skrillex’s five-hour Red Rocks show in 2023 is one example, taking place after he had spoken openly about the death of his mother, depression and problems with alcohol during a difficult period in his life. With no special guests and five hours spanning different parts of his career, the night gave Skrillex and the crowd hours to dance, sing and react together, while he later described it as one of the best nights of his life.
A different kind of return came with Hardwell at Ultra Music Festival in 2022, four years after he stepped away from an intense touring schedule and later spoke about the importance of taking time away when an artist begins to feel burnt out. Reflecting on that period, Hardwell said it was crucial to step back when needed, while his return to Ultra placed him in front of a major festival crowd again with an entirely new body of music. He admitted that he had no idea how the audience would respond to a set consisting entirely of unreleased material, making their reaction particularly meaningful after several years away from touring.
The role of movement becomes more obvious when thousands of people physically participate in the same moment. During Defqon.1’s Power Hour in 2023, around 65,000 attendees jumped from side to side together during its well-known Left-Right crowd movement, turning thousands of separate reactions to the music into one coordinated action across the festival. The moment works differently from an artist returning after a difficult period, but it shows another side of why dancing can become significant, particularly when the physical response is shared by almost everyone around you.
At ODESZA’s final The Last Goodbye tour shows at The Gorge in 2024, dancing was accompanied by years of memories connected to the music, with the ECHOES installation featuring emotional voice messages from attendees about what ODESZA had meant to them. Thousands of people encountered those messages while attending the three closing shows, bringing personal memories into an event that was already marking the end of a long-running tour. Moments like these help explain why dancing can feel therapeutic under very different circumstances, whether movement becomes part of getting through a difficult period, returning to something after needing time away or experiencing an emotional response alongside thousands of other people.
For many people, the therapeutic feeling associated with dancing to EDM may come from more than simply enjoying the music or taking a break from everyday stress. The response can develop through repeated movement, the physical focus of dancing, the meaning attached to certain tracks and the experience of moving alongside other people for long periods of time. Research into conscious dance and dance music events supports the idea that movement, social connection and shared emotional responses can all contribute to how someone feels during and after the experience, while real festival and performance moments show how differently that can play out depending on the person and the context. By the time someone leaves a club or festival after hours of dancing, the change they notice may not come from one single part of the night, but from the way music, movement, memory and connection have worked together across the whole experience.
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How streaming platforms, charts and music companies are responding to AI-generated music and introducing new protections for human artists
Artificial Intelligence has become an increasingly difficult subject for the music industry to ignore. AI-generated music, cloned voices and synthetic artist identities are becoming more common across streaming services and digital platforms. The industry once discussed AI mostly in terms of creative possibilities, but it now raises much bigger questions around ownership, transparency, royalties and the protection of human artists. No single industry-wide standard currently decides how platforms should treat AI-generated music.
That gap has left individual platforms and organisations to introduce their own responses. Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, YouTube, ARIA, Billboard and Bandcamp have each taken different approaches to AI disclosure, recommendation systems, chart eligibility, artist impersonation and fraudulent streaming. These measures show how the music industry is beginning to establish clearer rules around AI, while also addressing what its rapid use could mean for the artists whose music, voices and identities sit at the centre of it.
Why AI-Generated Music Has Become an Industry-Wide Issue
AI-generated music has raised serious concerns across the electronic music industry, with producers increasingly questioning how tracks get created, credited and presented to listeners. Much of the criticism centers on platforms like Suno and Udio, particularly when tracks are released without clear disclosure or created using material connected to existing artists.
For producers who have spent years writing, producing and developing their own sound, this raises a bigger question: what happens when AI-generated releases compete for the same listeners, streams and opportunities while requiring far less human involvement in the creative process?
That question has become harder to ignore as more electronic music producers speak openly about what they are seeing. H4RRIS and Nihil Young have both called out tracks they believe were generated through Suno and presented as human-made releases, with Young also discussing how generative AI is affecting his work as a producer and engineer.
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Gareth Emery has raised a related concern, criticizing the use of existing music as training data and questioning whether artists have enough control over how their work is used to generate new tracks, vocals or artist identities. His decision to launch a label focused specifically on human-created music reflects how some producers are beginning to respond directly to that issue.
The Debate Extends Beyond the Music Itself
What makes the conversation more complicated is that the same technology is also being used in ways that go beyond the music itself. deadmau5 criticized a DJ earlier this year for using an AI-generated version of his likeness to promote music without permission, bringing artist identity and consent into the same discussion around AI-generated releases.
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Diplo, meanwhile, has taken a different approach altogether, speaking openly about using AI-generated vocals in his own productions. That contrast, between artists pushing back on unauthorized use and artists actively embracing the tools, shows that electronic music does not share one position on how AI should be used, and it sets up a broader question about where the industry goes from here.
How Different Platforms Are Responding to AI-Generated Music
As AI-generated music becomes more common across streaming and digital platforms, companies are starting to make clearer decisions around transparency, discovery, artist identity and fraudulent activity. These responses are not identical, but they show how platforms are beginning to set their own rules around what listeners should be told, how artists should be protected and how AI-generated releases should be treated once they enter the wider music ecosystem.
1. Apple Music
Before a release even reaches listeners, Apple Music is already changing how that music gets documented. Labels and distributors can now disclose when AI has generated a material portion of a recording, composition, artwork or music video, adding that information directly to the metadata supplied with the release. This gives rights holders a clearer way to document significant AI involvement from the start.
2. Spotify
For Spotify, the questions extend well beyond disclosure once music reaches the platform. AI Persona badges are being rolled out to identify profiles representing AI-generated identities, and those profiles are generally kept out of editorial and algorithmic recommendations. The platform has also strengthened protections around unauthorized voice cloning and music being falsely uploaded to existing artist profiles.
3. Deezer
As the issue shifts from transparency to how fully AI-generated music is distributed and monetized, Deezer has taken a stricter stance. The platform labels those tracks and removes them from editorial playlists and recommendation systems, while excluding fraudulent streams linked to AI-generated music from royalty calculations. The scale of the issue is significant too: Deezer reported that fully AI-generated tracks accounted for more than half of daily uploads at their June 2026 peak.
4. Bandcamp
Rather than working within a disclosure framework, Bandcamp has drawn a much firmer line than most platforms. It does not allow music generated wholly or substantially by AI and also prohibits AI being used to impersonate another artist or imitate their style. Its policy stands apart from the disclosure-focused approaches used elsewhere, since certain forms of AI-generated music are not permitted on the platform at all.
5. YouTube
When an artist’s image or identity gets reproduced without permission, the debate moves beyond the music itself entirely. YouTube has expanded likeness detection tools that allow eligible artists and entertainers to identify AI-generated videos using their face and request removal. This gives creators another layer of protection as generative AI becomes increasingly capable of copying the people behind the music as well as the music itself.
6. ARIA
With fully AI-generated music now entering the wider market, ARIA, the Australian Recording Industry Association, has introduced a clearer standard for what can qualify for official recognition. Recordings must be substantially human-made to enter the ARIA Charts or qualify for the ARIA Awards, excluding fully AI-generated releases from those categories.
7. Billboard
As AI-generated music begins appearing more frequently across the industry, Billboard has focused on making that use clearer to readers and chart audiences. The publication has committed to identifying AI-generated music when it appears in its charts and editorial coverage, keeping the emphasis on transparency instead of excluding those releases outright.
What Comes Next for AI and the Music Industry
The differences between Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, Bandcamp and YouTube suggest the industry is still some way from a shared standard, with each platform setting its own rules around disclosure, discovery and artist protection in the meantime. That patchwork is likely to keep shifting as AI tools grow more capable and more artists, labels and listeners push for clearer answers.
Disclosure, consent, royalties and identity remain the core pressure points, and none of them are likely to be resolved by any single platform acting alone. As more of the industry weighs in, the direction these policies take could determine how much control artists retain over their music, their voices and their likenesses in an increasingly AI-driven landscape.
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UNTOLD ONE 2026 welcomed more than 500,000 festivalgoers to Cluj-Napoca, and narrowing the lineup down to five sets was no easy task.
There are festivals that put together a great lineup, festivals that build impressive stages, and festivals that become destinations in themselves. UNTOLD ONE 2026 managed to be all three. Earlier this August, our team went to Cluj-Napoca from August 6–9 for UNTOLD festival. More than 200 artists performed across the festival, with the event ultimately welcoming more than 500,000 festivalgoers over four days and four nights. But attendance figures only tell part of the story.
What made UNTOLD ONE particularly interesting was the way it continued to push beyond the conventional definition of an EDM festival. The Mainstage delivered the global superstars and enormous singalong moments expected from a festival of this scale, while Galaxy and the other stages offered everything from underground techno to melodic house, urban music and drum & bass. The tram stage provided up and coming artists to showcase their talent while the alchemy stage had some of the biggest hip hop acts of Romania and the world performing there. The result was a festival that could feel completely different depending on where you stood.
With so many incredible performances across the weekend, narrowing the lineup down to just five was an extremely difficult task. When names like Carl Cox, Solomun, Sara Landry and Swae Lee don’t even make the final cut, you know UNTOLD ONE delivered a weekend packed with exceptional music and unforgettable memories.
After four days of music, these are our top five acts from UNTOLD ONE 2026.
5.Flo Rida
Sometimes a festival set doesn’t need to be complicated, It just needs to be fun and Flo Rida delivered exactly that. Performing at the Mainstage with a catalogue packed with instantly recognizable and nostalgic hits, Flo Rida turned UNTOLD into one enormous party. Tracks like “Low,” “Whistle” and “GDFR” provided the kind of universal crowd reaction that few artists can replicate. In my personal opinion, the crowd was the loudest during his set
His performance also brought a completely different energy to the closing night. After four days of EDM, techno, house and live performances, Flo Rida’s combination of hip-hop, pop and dancefloor anthems felt like the perfect way to celebrate the end of the festival.
It was nostalgic, energetic and incredibly entertaining.
4.Lost Frequencies
Lost Frequencies delivered one of the weekend’s most versatile sets, combining his melodic house sound with the kind of accessible festival energy that has made him a global name.
His performance was filled with familiar records, emotional melodies and moments designed perfectly for a crowd of tens of thousands.
One of the highlights came when Loredana Groza joined him on stage for their collaboration, bringing an unmistakably Romanian element to an otherwise international festival programme.
That moment summed up what UNTOLD does particularly well: bringing global electronic music together with the local culture and identity of Romania.
Lost Frequencies also demonstrated that you don’t necessarily need the hardest drops or most aggressive production to command a festival crowd.
Melodic, emotional and perfectly suited to the UNTOLD atmosphere.
3.Sebastian Ingrosso
Few artists understand the DNA of a festival quite like Sebastian Ingrosso.
With decades of experience performing on some of the world’s biggest stages, Ingrosso knows exactly how to build anticipation, when to release the energy and, most importantly, which records can turn a massive crowd into one voice.
His UNTOLD set delivered that familiar combination of progressive melodies, huge festival moments and Swedish House Mafia nostalgia, while still feeling relevant to a modern festival audience.
There is something particularly satisfying about listening to whole crowd singing along to “Dont you worry child”, It is one of those festival moments that words cannot really describe. You simply have to be there.
2.The Chainsmokers
It feels unfair to pick top five when there were so many artists pouring their heart out in their performances, one of them was the returning duo of the Chainsmokers, who played their ever green hits such as Dont let me down, Closer and Something just like this but also sharing a tribute to their late friend Juice wrld with “Sugarfish” and their emotional performance of the unreleased ID “Used to call”.
The Chainsmokers have always had a special relationship with festival crowds, and their UNTOLD return showed exactly why. Their set managed to balance nostalgia with the energy of a modern festival performance, taking the audience through some of the biggest records of their career while still keeping the show feeling fresh.
- MEDUZA³ LIVE
MEDUZA have become synonymous with some of the biggest house records of the past several years, but MEDUZA³ LIVE took the Italian trio’s sound into a different dimension.
Rather than simply delivering another DJ set, the live concept gave their music a larger, more immersive presentation. Their biggest records such as “Bad memories”, “Piece of your heart” and “Paradise” sounded particularly powerful in the UNTOLD environment, with the combination of live elements, vocals and festival-scale production creating a show that felt closer to a concert than a conventional club set.
It was also one of the weekend’s strongest examples of how electronic music continues to evolve, A polished, energetic and genuinely impressive live electronic performance.
UNTOLD ONE 2026 was a reminder of why the festival has become one of Europe’s most important electronic-music destinations.
It wasn’t simply about having the biggest names on the poster. It was about creating a festival where Lewis Capaldi could deliver an emotional singalong, MEDUZA³ could transform a DJ show into a hybrid live spectacle, Kygo could bring his tropical house vibes to a stadium crowd and R3JACK (Afrojack & R3HAB) could turn the mainstage in a dance floor.
And somewhere else on the festival grounds, Carl Cox, Solomun, Sara Landry, Denzel Curry and hundreds of other artists were creating their own unforgettable moments.
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