One of Spotify’s central concerns is that the majority of these spam tracks are uploaded in hopes of collecting payouts with any stream played for more than 30 seconds generating a form of micro-royalties. This potentially diverts income away from legitimate artists. The sheer scale of the 75 million removals emphasises the challenge this poses to Spotify’s vast public catalogue.

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Beyond spam filtering, Spotify is set to expand upon its existing policies around vocal impersonation and deepfakes, permitting such work only with direct authorisation from the original artist. The platform also plans to back up a voluntary disclosure standard (via DDEX), allowing any track to indicate how AI was used, whether in vocals, instrumentation, or post-production.

However, the company has also clearly stated that it is not banning AI music outright. Rather, it hopes to distinguish between responsible, creative experimental use and against exploitative practices. Spotify maintains that AI-generated content remains a minimal presence on the service and insists it is not significantly affecting overall streaming habits or royalties paid to human creators.

These measures arrive at a time when generative AI tools such as Suno and Udio have made it easier than ever to rapidly produce synthetic audio. This trend places not just Spotify, but all major streaming platforms under scrutiny as they confront the intertwined issues of authenticity, identity, and legitimacy in music catalogues.

For many artists, the new protections could provide a welcome safeguard against identity theft, diluted royalties, and uncredited mimicry. Yet questions remain: how well will the filters perform in practice? Will smaller independent creators be mistakenly caught in the dragnet? And will disclosure standards gain real traction across the industry, or stay voluntary and unevenly applied?

As Spotify begins rolling out these changes in the weeks ahead, the industry is watching closely. The debate over AI’s role in music is no longer theoretical—it is unfolding in real time, on one of streaming’s biggest stages.

Statistics from the BPI showed that UK-recorded music saw an increase in sales and streams by 9.7% in 2024, to 200.5 million albums (or their equivalent), up from 182.8 million in 2023. This highlights a decade of uninterrupted growth.

The 11% rise in the streaming market has driven this growth – 199.6 billion audio streams were racked up over the past year, as opposed to around 179 billion in 2023. Streaming now makes up 88.8% of music consumption, a 1% increase from last year. In May, the Official Charts Company reported over four billion audio streams in a single week for the first time ever.

The BPI says that audio streaming consumption has more than doubled in six years, proclaiming it a result of “long-term investment and backing of record labels in supporting a diverse range of artists and new talent”. Between 2018 and 2023, UK record labels invested over £2 Billion in marketing and A&R.

Physical sales have also seen an uptick – for the first time since 1994, the sales of physical albums (vinyl, CD, cassette and others) increased by 1.4 percent. The rise in sales has been driven by new releases from artists such as Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish, who dropped multiple editions of their latest albums on the vinyl format, as well as classic records from Oasis and Fleetwood Mac. The vinyl market is now at a three-decade peak, with sales up 9.1 percent. In contrast, sales of physical CD’s have declined 2.9 percent.

The stats show that it’s been a great year for female artists – in 2024, six of the top 10 and half of the 20 biggest albums of the year were by women. To no surprise, Taylor Swift headed this progression, with ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ garnering 738,000 sales by the years end, the highest for any artists release in a calendar year since 2017.

Charli XCX left 2024 as the highest selling UK artist on the Official Album Charts, in an undeniable year that’s seen her earn grammy nominations, rave reviews, and pop culture frenzy for her club-influenced ‘Brat’ album. The release was one of 12 by female artists to top the UK album charts in 2024 – other UK female artists to do so were Dua Lipa with ‘Radical Optimism’, Beabadoobe with ‘This Is How Tomorrow Moves’ and The Last Dinner Party and their debut offering, ‘Prelude To Ecstasy’.

It’s been an interesting year for music, with both familiar names and emerging artists gathering accolades in streaming and sales. You can see our write-up on the UK’s five biggest songs of the year here, and the full list of 2024’s top-ranking albums and singles here.

Official Album Charts, 2024:
1. Taylor Swift – ‘The Tortured Poets Department’
2. The Weeknd – ‘The Highlights’
3. Sabrina Carpenter – ‘Short N’ Swet’
4. Noah Kahan – ‘Stick Season’
5. Billie Eilish – ‘Hit Me Hard And Soft’
6. Chappell Roan – ‘The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess’
7. Fleetwood Mac – ’50 Years – Don’t Stop’
8. Charli XCX – ‘Brat’
9. Coldplay – ‘Moon Music’
10. Olivia Rodrigo – ‘Guts’

Following analysis by the Official Charts Company – whose data additionally revealed that more than one billion of the singer-songwriter’s streams had been garnered in the last 12 months – Sheeran was presented with the prestigious award by Rizzle Kicks member Jordan Stephens on behalf of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

The Suffolk superstar, who claimed his trophy in a record store, was quick to express gratitude to fans in an Instagram video, saying: “Thank you so much for all the streams. It’s a pleasure, I love being British.”

Later on, he added in a statement: “It’s wonderful to receive the first-ever BRIT Billion Award in the UK for 10 billion streams. I want say a big thank you to my fans. None of this is possible without you guys.”

Meanwhile, BPI Chief Executive Dr. Jo Twist applauded the singer for his new milestone:

“We congratulate Ed Sheeran and his team on this landmark achievement. Ed may represent the pinnacle of streaming success, but he is also among the thousands of artists who are being streamed in the tens and hundreds of millions in the UK each year and who are thriving thanks to streaming and label support. We look forward to honouring many more artists, including future talent, with a BRIT Billion award.”

Sheeran, who in June was named the UK’s most-played artist for the sixth time in eight years, has dominated the charts throughout most of his career – with all six of his studio albums peaking at number one. The seven-time Brit Award winner has made Official Charts history countless times, breaking records including becoming the first British solo artist to claim a full year at No.1.

Listen to Ed Sheeran’s most recent number one single, “Eyes Closed“, below:

He currently holds three of the 10 most-streamed songs of all time with “Shape Of You” in second place, “Perfect” at number three and “Bad Habits” claiming the ninth spot. As the recipient of the Gold BRIT Billion Award, Sheeran joins an exclusive club of similarly high-achieving acts including ABBA, Whitney Houston and most recently, Billie Eilish.

Last week, the songwriter released his latest studio effort, Autumn Variations, his second record this year following May’s chart-topping release Subtract. 

Listen to Autumn Variations here.

The UK music industry is no stranger to producing record-breaking artists. Leading the way are chart-dominating artists Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran and Adele along with heritage artists like Queen and Elton John. Adele alone is the only artist to exceed 1 million album sales last year and her album, 30, sold twice as many copies as any other. But it wasn’t just the super-established that made waves in British music in 2021. This substantial growth was also down to the work of breakthrough acts such as Glass Animals, Rex Orange County and BBC Sound of 2022 winner, PinkPantheress. In fact, Glass Animals song “Heat Waves” was Australia’s No. 1 single of the year

Last year, nearly 400 UK artists accrued over 100 million audio streams worldwide, compared to around 300 artists in 2020. The figures also revealed that there were notable artists who gained over 250 million streams yet did not achieve a UK Top 40 single, proving that despite moderate success in the UK, some of these artists will be extremely established overseas. Such artists included Grammy-nominated Ella Mai, metalcore band Asking Alexandria, and Scottish-American singer Bishop Briggs. Ella Mai’s single “Boo’d Up” hit the top five of  The Billboard Hot 100 and was an R&B No. 1 in the US, but peaked at 52 on the UK chart.

Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive BPI, BRIT Awards & Mercury Prize said, “These record-breaking figures once again highlight the extraordinary popularity of British music internationally. This is not just about our much-loved superstars, but new artists and bands from all over the UK who, with their label’s investment and expertise, are able to successfully navigate the competitive streaming landscape.”

The BPI also predict that, if this growth continues, British music exports could rise to £1 billion or more by the end of the decade. However, they do take note of the intensifying global competition and urge the Government to support artists to achieve this growth. “Continued success isn’t guaranteed,” states Taylor, he continues “with sustained support from Government, British music will continue to thrive all around the world.”

Read more here: www.bpi.co.uk

Four Tet, featured, made headlines recently after his music was removed from streaming services over a royalty dispute, Brennan believes that Keiran Hebden (more popularly known by his stage name Four Tet) was very much in the right on his opposition to the lack of payment. In an article written for the times, Brennan states that record labels are “Relying on an ancient pre-streaming contract” and that it “doesn’t pay you what you should”.

My article in The Times – ‘Let’s set record straight and pay musicians their due’ #FixStreaming #BrokenRecord pic.twitter.com/etGcGSUp6A

— Kevin Brennan MP (@KevinBrennanMP) December 4, 2021

Since Brennan’s bill had its second reading on 3^rd December, nothing notable has come out of parliament. But the bill has rallied support from a significant portion of the industry. Horace Trubridge, General Secretary of the Musicians’ Union says, “We’re immensely grateful to Kevin Brennan and all the MPs, musicians, songwriters, composers, session players and featured artists who have supported the call to fix streaming” Adding, “It’s by no means the end of the Fix Streaming campaign… We will continue to put pressure on the Government and music industry to make the streaming system fairer and put the value of music back where it belongs – in our members’ hands.”.   Over 20,000 musicians have gotten involved with the #FixStreaming and #BrokenRecord campaigns, including Four Tet, Caribou, Adele, Rebecca Ferguson, and many others. While this, so far, doesn’t seem to have progressed; #BrokenRecord campaigner (who clearly knows his way around the parliamentary system) set the record -pardon the pun- straight by saying that “the vote goes to the back of the debating queue.” Meaning it might be a while until any major changes are made.

If you’re confused by what’s happened in Parliament. They voted on closure, they kept it open, which means the vote goes to the back of the debating queue. They’ll try to move for a vote soon, but the govt will push it out. So debate will go to 2.30pm but won’t pass. — Tom Gray #BrokenRecord (@MrTomGray) December 3, 2021

Graham Davies, CEO of The Ivors Academy (a professional association for music writers in Europe), adds “Today’s debate of the Brennan Bill is a landmark moment on the path to the inevitable modernisation of the music industry. The Government accepted that reform must take place to level-up payments for music makers. It is not a matter of if this reform happens but how.”

While progress is without a doubt being made, musicians should continue to campaign for the change in royalties from streaming services. See the full story, including explained segments of Brennan’s bill here.

Hebden is specifically targeting a part of his contract, signed in 2001; well before anyone knew of the prolificity of streaming, that states, “In respect of the exploitation of the Masters and any videos embodying the Masters and received by us from our licensees outside the UK we shall credit your audio and audio-visual royalty accounts respectively with 50 per cent of all royalties and fees arising from such exploitation.”. With Hebden claiming it “will contend that a reasonable royalty rate in respect of revenues derived from exploitation by way of streaming and/or digital download under the implied term of the 2001 Agreement has at all material times been at least 50 per cent; Four Tet’s position as to the precise rate is reserved pending evidence and/or expert evidence on this issue.”.

In short, Hebden believes the total amount of revenue he receives from streaming and downloads (which after a lot of complicated legal jargon ends up being about 13.5%) is unfair. He, and other artists including Radiohead and Marillion, have tried to argue this case before to no avail. Four Tet is seeking damages of up to £70,000 plus costs over the claim for historical streaming and download royalties as well as a legal judgement on the 50 per cent rate.

Today, 3 of the albums released through Domino: Pause (2001), Rounds (2003) and Everything Ecstatic (2005), have been removed from streaming services as a response to Hebden’s aggrievance. He said to fans that this action is “heartbreaking” and “out of [his] control”. The issue is due to be heard in court on January 18^th of next year, we may not be able to hear these 3 albums through streaming until then.

I’m so upset to see that @Dominorecordco have removed the 3 albums of mine they own from digital and streaming services. This is heartbreaking to me. People are reaching out asking why they can’t stream the music and I’m sad to have to say that it’s out of my control.

— Four Tet (@FourTet) November 21, 2021

He later added, “I signed with Domino over 20 years ago, in a different time before streaming and downloads were something we thought about.”

Earlier this week Domino’s legal representative said they would remove my music from all digital services in order to stop the case progressing. I did not agree to them taking this action and I’m truly shocked that it has come to this.

— Four Tet (@FourTet) November 21, 2021

 This conversation has been brought to light a lot recently, as regulators, industry figures and the government continue to scrutinise the streaming royalty process for artists as part of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Commons Select Committee’s inquiry into the matter. Last month, the DCMS called for new legislation that “enshrines in law [artists’] rights to a fair share of the earnings” to address the inequality in payments received by artists.

The Competition and Markets Authority, or CMA for short, noted that in the last decade, the music industry had evolved “almost beyond recognition”, not just in the way that listening habits have changed, but also in terms of how profits are now diced up. A report from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport estimates that streaming services take up to 34% of revenues from a stream, the label recouping 55%, and the rest being split between the artist, songwriter, and publisher, as per the Guardian.

This lack of equity for artists is worrisome as they may feel as if they are losing out on their fair share of profits. To quell these worries, the CMA states that  “market study will help us to understand these radical changes and build a view as to whether competition in this sector is working well or whether further action needs to be taken”. It will eventually decide whether or not the government should legislate the UK music market, whether the industry is capable of regulating itself, or whether legal action should be taken against firms who are exploiting artists.

With the livelihoods of British musicians being threatened, 44 Conservative MPs have written a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling for the industry to be legislated, with calls to “fix streaming”. It is in light of these calls that the CMA is investigating streaming services, falling in line with the Conservatives plan to “build back better” from the pandemic and ensure British workers recover from the loss of revenue over 2020.

In a separate investigation, the CMA is looking into Sony’s takeover of AWAL, an artist services company, in a bid worth £312m ($430m), according to Music Business Worldwide. The CMA noted that if the deal had not gone ahead, that AWAL would have grown to be a competitor of Sony, implying that swallowing up competition in lucrative takeover bids is an anti-competitive business practice. Additionally, AWAL provided higher revenues for streams than Sony, as well as allowing greater ownership of artists over their music. It is thus concerning to see music industry giants block like Spotify and Sony to close paths to smaller artists, and only allowing the biggest superstars to see considerable profits.

“Easy On Me” is Adele’s first single in five years and was dropped at midnight on October 15. It quickly amassed millions of streams within its first few hours of going live.

The new record set by the song surpasses a record previously held by K-pop giants, BTS. They held the record with 20.9 million streams for “Butter”.

On Twitter, Spotify wrote: “And just like that, Adele set a new record.”

And just like that, @Adele set a new record pic.twitter.com/WIz55hQmln

— Spotify (@Spotify) October 15, 2021

The song is also performing well on other platforms, too and at about 2 p.m. PT on Friday the music video had already racked up 36 million views and it was also at the top of the U.S. iTunes chart.

A few days ago (October 16), Adele also hinted to fans what they can expect to hear on her next album, 30, which will arrive on November 19. The new album will deal with Adele’s divorce from her husband Simon Konecki, which was finalized in March after the couple had been separated for nearly two years. The singer told Vogue that the album is her attempt to explain her divorce from Konecki to her 9-year-old son Angelo when he’s older.

When asked on Radio 2 about possible options for the first single, Adele told Zoe Ball there were “three”, before going on to describe how each sounded.

Adele explained: “There were three options for the first single. Very different, all of them. There’s obviously “Easy On Me”, then there’s another one…I got very into Goldfrapp and I was like, ‘I can do this music too!’. I can do one song, I definitely couldn’t pull off what Alison [Goldfrapp does], she’s the absolute Queen. And there’s another one that’s very 70s, piano singer-songwritery. Just very Carpenters, very Elton [John].”

You can hear “Easy On Me” below:

Adele hasn’t just broken records with this latest release however as it was recently announced that Adele’s second album 21 was ranked number one in BBC Radio 2’s Top 30 Best-Selling Albums.

The press release has provided the following description for the new release. “Mimik is a sprawling transmission of static and beats and guitars. An ode to the spaces we used to be able to inhabit without quite so much existential dread… or perhaps it’s a broadcast from a messier but better future? Can both be true?.” Fans who are already subscribers will automatically receive a download for “Mink”, there is still time to subscribe to receive the download as a subscriber. As well as the new EP subscribers also get access to bonus features, the new release is also available from the band’s Bandcamp.

The group’s new release is the most recent offering from their Wreckage Systems series, the band’s new project is a powerhouse of creativity and information. The series aims to document and share the research which has accumulated from the band’s music and process. The project which was birthed in March is assessable through the Patreon powered backchannel. Version one of the series’ stream has been left online for all to enjoy, click here to access the stream. A second live stream has now been made available to watch which documents the development of Version Two of the project. For more information concerning the series’ updates and exclusive behind the scenes content head over to www.wreckage.systems.

The Wreckage Systems Release Archive can be found on Bandcamp, subscribers can access them for free directly via Patreon and the download codes for Bandcamp. Also included within the series are musical process guides entitled The Wreckage Systems Technical Overview series described by the press release as. “An epic, sprawling, multi-part deconstruction of the infrastructure and various moving parts of how we make the Wreckage Systems stream. With diagrams”. Other resources such as the Annotated Max Patches are also assessable by fans, the tools are a vital download for electronic artists or music fans curious to learn about the group’s process and genre of music. Other individualistic resources intended for educational purposes include mini-essays written about the band’s musical process and the birth of the Wreckage Systems series. One particular essay entitled “A Manifesto for Guerrilla Rewilding” reads like an extended metaphor based on a quote from legendary producer Brian Eno, Eno describes writing generative music as planting imaginative seeds. Generative music is a term that was popularized by the producer and it is used to describe music that is created via a system that is always different and forever changing.

The series remains free but an option to donate is available starting at £5 a month. The press release has given the following brief regarding the group’s ongoing project. “So as you can see, with the Wreckage Systems project, the emphasis is on documenting and sharing ongoing research, development, and reflections on what you could call the ‘non-traditional’ or ‘experimental’ or ‘uh….what?’ side of how 65daysofstatic stubbornly continues to explore the hinterlands of what bands can be.”

UK fans will be able to see the band’s new material live very soon, after much uncertainty 65daysofstatic will be returning to London to perform three live shows. Full details can be found below, fans will see that the London and Manchester shows have changed venues. Unfortunately for Russian fans, the October shows have been postponed again but luckily May 2022 dates have been announced.

Click here to become a subscriber.

Click here to watch the Wreckage Systems Streams via YouTube and here to watch via the site.

65daysofstatic UK tour dates

11/11/2021 – Islington Assembly Hall – London
12/11 – Gorilla – Manchester
13/11 – Summer Hall – Edinburgh

In an interview published in Music Ally explaining the initiative, Gray said that “This is Covid-19. Live [income] has gone, PRO money is going to dry up shortly. Whatever anger you think there is in the industry now towards streaming, imagine it in six months’ time when the last of the money that’s in touring musicians’ bank accounts has gone, and when their PRS and PPL cheques go through the floor.” His movement prompted the government to start an inquiry into the issue.

In recent days, after a six-month enquiry into the effects of streaming into the music industry, some MPs have agreed that a reset of fees is necessary in order to ensure fairness for musicians. Several studies have shown that The MP Julian Knight has said that “While streaming has brought significant profits to the recorded music industry, the talent behind it – performers, songwriters and composers – are losing out.”

As reported by the BBC, other recommendations made by the study include:

• Musicians and songwriters should be allowed to reclaim the rights to their work from labels after a set period of time.
• Artists should be given the right to adjust their contract if their work is successful beyond the remuneration they received.
• The government should explore ways to ensure songwriters, who receive minimal streaming royalties, can have sustainable careers.
• Curators who make playlists on services like Spotify and Apple Music should adhere to a “code of conduct” to avoid bribes and favouritism.
• The government should require publishers and royalty societies to inform artists about how much money is flowing through the system.

Gray said he was “overjoyed” by the results of the inquiry, and said that “It feels like a massive vindication…they’ve really come to the same conclusions that we’ve been saying for a very long time.”