Spotify hire artificial intelligence expert from Sony

As the controversy around Spotify’s use of “fake artists” continues, an interesting development has been reported by Music Business Worldwide today.

Spotify have reportedly hired François Pachet – the Director of the Sony Computer Science Laboratory in Paris where he leads a team in the application of artificial intelligence in popular music.

Pachet is one of the leading experts in this field globally. In 2012, he managed a project which created the first known pop songs using AI. He was also instrumental in launching the first label dedicated to the use of AI for music production.

AI-written music – presumably – wouldn’t require any royalties to be paid to copyright holders after being published. This hiring, then, would add weight to the accusation that Spotify are filling their playlists themed on moods, genres or activities with “fake artists” to circumvent royalty costs.

Spotify responded to Music Business Worldwide‘s original report with a statement which reads: “We do not and have never created ‘fake’ artists and put them on Spotify playlists. Categorically untrue, full stop. We pay royalties – sound and publishing – for all tracks on Spotify, and for everything we playlist. We do not own rights, we’re not a label, all our music is licensed from rightsholders and we pay them – we don’t pay ourselves.”