All the latest in AI ‘music’ – The Verge

Spotify pulled 50 million AI slop and spam tracks from its recommendations

2026-10-20T11:53:21-04:00

Spotify says it has removed more than 50 million songs considered AI-generated slop or spam from user recommendations over the past year. That's according to an announcement on Tuesday that says Spotify has also made changes to its recommendation system to highlight more music made by human artists.

"Our editors hold the same standard and don't program content identified as slop or spam," Spotify says. "Since we made these changes, we've seen a marked decrease in listener concerns about this content showing up in recommendations."

Though Spotify has stopped short of mandating labels on all AI tracks, it launched an "AI Persona" badge for …

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Vibe coding is turning the music gear world upside down

2026-10-19T12:38:48-04:00

If you spend any time on r/synthesizers or watch a lot of synth videos on YouTube, you've probably noticed the explosion of custom firmware for hardware synthesizers, samplers, and grooveboxes. What unites almost all of them is that they were made possible by increasingly sophisticated vibe-coding tools.

These sorts of custom firmware were exceedingly rare in the pre-LLM days and required both deep expertise and an incredible investment of time. It could take weeks or months to add a simple feature like velocity sensitivity to a Korg Volca. Now, hobbyist hackers are able to turn Temu synths into full-fledged grooveboxes in a matter of days.

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YouTube sticks new labels on AI-generated songs

2026-10-14T14:25:04-04:00

YouTube is adding a "Made with AI" label to tracks that were "altered or fully generated" using AI, with a similar approach to its existing process for applying AI labels to videos. It doesn't sound like this will apply to any and all use of AI tools in making music, but according to YouTube, it includes things like "using a generative model to create the composition and vocals." In its rules for music partners who upload their songs, YouTube lays out how to disclose generative AI use, and says that if there's no disclosure, it may use "other signals" to decide if a song is AI-generated.

The label is rolling out starting today in the YouTub …

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DistroKid has been quietly taking down songs in response to UMG lawsuit

2026-10-10T17:23:38-04:00

Artists are taking to social media to complain that DistroKid has unceremoniously removed their work without notice. Now DistroKid has confirmed to The Verge that the takedowns are a direct response to claims made by UMG. The label filed a lawsuit in September claiming that DistroKid has created an "AI-slop pipeline." Artists are saying that their non-AI works are being caught up in the purge, however.

Musician and self-described "Video Game boy" McGwire reported that six of his songs had been removed from streaming. As has been the case with others, McGwire says that there was no communication from DistroKid before or after the removals, a …

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Engram is a sampler that turns broken AI hallucinations into music

2026-09-28T05:59:36-04:00

Music startup Thoughtful Things has just launched the Kickstarter campaign for its first instrument, Engram. It's a sampler and groovebox that uses AI to mangle incoming audio and even hallucinate completely new sounds. This isn't Suno in a box, though. This isn't a "push-button, get-song" device, aimed at creating something that sounds ready for top-40 radio. It's about creating experimental, uncanny sounds and pushing AI audio models beyond their limits.

Engram isn't connected to the internet. Instead, it runs a "tiny AI" locally. According to the Kickstarter listing, the model is designed in-house and custom-trained. The company says:

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Sony and UMG are suing Suno again

2026-09-25T15:09:57-04:00

Suno’s AI vocalists could learn a thing or two from this glitchy image. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

Sony and Universal Music Group filed yet another suit against Suno. The labels claim its new v6 model still infringes on their copyrights because it's trained on user outputs from previous models, which were themselves trained on unlicensed music ripped from YouTube and other sources. Sony and UMG are notable holdouts who did not sign a licensing agreement with Suno.

In its complaint shared with The Verge, Sony and UMG accuse Suno of "model laundering," saying:

"Training a 'new' model on the outputs of an infringing model does not eliminate the infringement; it launders it, passing the value of Plaintiffs' expression from the copied reco …

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Lunacy Audio Nova is a place to build and sell your own AI-powered music plug-ins

2026-09-17T11:25:39-04:00

The interface of the Nova plug-in for browsing and loading Nova plug-ins inside your DAW. | Screenshot: Terrence O’Brien / The Verge

Lunacy, purveyor of fine VST plug-ins like Cube, a synth that you control by moving a ball around a 3D space, has just launched Nova, a platform where creators can build custom music tools using AI and sell them to others. At first, there will be a handful of instruments available, built either by Lunacy or a small selection of partner developers. But eventually, the company will launch Nova Builder, which will let anyone build their own plug-ins or remix existing ones.

There are 10 plug-ins available initially, covering everything from crunchy chiptunes to warbly vintage synths and evil ambient drones. None of them do anything particularl …

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Roland is getting into generative AI music with Melody Flip

2026-09-04T13:51:35-04:00

It's not quite the "push button; get song" of Suno, but Roland's new Melody Flip tool marks the company's foray into generative AI music. Available as a plug-in for your digital audio workstation (DAW), Melody Flip offers around 250 "Palettes," which are essentially themed collections of musical ideas sorted by genre. You can start from scratch and ask it to generate any combination of melody, chord progression, bassline, or drums. Or you can feed it a reference track and have it build off the melodic ideas from that.

Unlike Suno or Udio, Melody Flip doesn't spit out fully polished songs with vocals and full arrangements. Instead, it offers …

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Suno is trying to look more like a real music production tool

2026-08-14T08:52:01-04:00

Suno is releasing Studio 2.0 with significant upgrades that push it closer to an actual digital audio workstation (DAW), rather than a bare-bones audio editor with generative AI features. The biggest addition is undoubtedly MIDI support. Suno says that MIDI was its most requested feature, and it's basically a prerequisite for any modern DAW. Unfortunately, Suno Studio doesn't appear to support third-party plugins or VSTs yet, so you're stuck using its proprietary built-in synth. That synth appears to be a basic two-oscillator wavetable plugin with three envelopes and four LFOs.

The point is less about using your favorite Arturia vintage syn …

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Guitar company D’Addario admits that AI music was used in a promotional video

2026-08-13T09:51:58-04:00

After weeks of controversy and speculation, music company D'Addario has admitted that AI, specifically Suno, was used as part of a recent promotional video. For nearly two weeks, the company has denied the allegations, even as evidence piled up against it. It offered various explanations, from low-quality exports, to combinations of plug-ins like Autotune introducing digital noise, and the use of AI-assisted mastering tools from LANDR and Logic. But now the company has edited its original Instagram post denying the use of generative AI to say it was wrong.

In a lengthy update to its post from July 29th (embedded at the bottom), it said:

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