Music is evolving, and so are the ways you discover and connect with artists. In the AI era, it’s more important than ever to be able to trust the authenticity of the music you listen to. At Spotify, our focus is providing you with more context about artists and their music, so you can build more meaningful connections with them.
Today, we’re introducing a new Verified by Spotify badge, as well as additional details about artists’ activity (in beta) on Spotify. These updates build on recent song-level context features like SongDNA, expanded song credits, About the Song, and AI credits, all designed to give you more insight and transparency into the music and artists you’re discovering.
A clearer signal on artist profiles
Artist profiles are a key place to learn more about music and artists. The new Verified by Spotify badge shows an artist profile has been reviewed and meets Spotify’s criteria for authenticity and trust. And with Artist Profile Protection (currently in beta), artists now have greater control over what appears on their profile, which helps to ensure the music you see is coming from them.
Artists who receive this badge have:
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- Consistent listener activity and engagement over time: We focus our review on artist profiles that listeners are actively and intentionally seeking out over a sustained period of time, not just those experiencing one-time spikes in engagement. These criteria also make it feasible to conduct thorough reviews across millions of artist profiles.
- Good standing with Spotify’s platform policies: This means the artist and their content comply with our platform rules.
- Signals of a real artist represented in the profile: We look for an identifiable artist presence both on and off-platform, like concert dates, merch, and linked social accounts on their artist profile. At launch, profiles that appear to primarily represent AI-generated or AI-persona artists are not eligible for verification. In today’s music landscape, the concept of artist authenticity is complex and quickly evolving, and we’ll continue to develop our approach over time.
We’ll pair these standards with human review and judgment to identify real artists behaving in good-faith, not just filtering out bad actors, giving you a more reliable signal of the authentic artistry behind the music.
Rolling out over time
You’ll begin seeing the new badge appear on artist profiles and next to artist names in search over the coming weeks. It will be marked by “Verified by Spotify” text and a light green checkmark icon. Because Spotify is home to millions of uploaders and artist profiles, reviews and verification will happen on an ongoing basis to ensure accuracy and consistency. Not seeing the badge on an artist profile doesn’t mean they won’t receive it in the future.
At launch, we have ensured that more than 99% of the artists Spotify listeners actively search for will be verified, representing hundreds of thousands of artists—the majority independent—spanning genres, career stages, and geographies. This means prioritizing artists with active fan interest, or who have made important contributions to music culture and history, rather than functional music creators and content farms whose content is primarily designed for passive or background listening.
More context about the artist
We’re also introducing a new section (in beta) across all artist profiles—regardless of Verified by Spotify status—that highlights key artist details like career milestones, release activity, and touring activity, helping you better understand and connect with the artist beyond the music.
Much like nutrition facts offer a quick, reliable snapshot on what’s inside packaged food, these details—based on Spotify’s platform data—give meaningful signals of an artist’s authentic activity on Spotify, even for those who haven’t yet met our Verified by Spotify criteria.
You’ll begin seeing this in the About section on mobile across artist profiles in the coming weeks, as well as by clicking “Verified by Spotify” in the banner for verified artists.
Looking ahead
In a landscape that’s complex and rapidly evolving, we know we won’t get everything right from day one. We’ve designed this new verification program thoughtfully with listeners and artists in mind, and we’ll continue to evolve this program over time. Our goal is to make it easier for you to trust and understand the human artistry behind the music you listen to on Spotify, and develop long-term, meaningful connections with the artists and music you love.
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