AI Christmas Covers Flood Streaming Services, Harming Artists

The Rise of AI-Generated Christmas Music

Streaming platforms like Spotify, YouTube, and SoundCloud are experiencing an unprecedented surge in AI-generated Christmas covers this holiday season. Fictitious artists with names like Dean Snowfield, Sleighbelle, and Daniel & The Holly Jollies are releasing holiday tracks that sound convincingly human but are entirely created by artificial intelligence. According to recent data from streaming service Deezer, approximately 28% of all music uploaded to platforms is now fully AI-generated, representing over 30,000 tracks daily.

Artists Face Income Loss and Identity Theft

The proliferation of AI-generated music presents significant challenges for human artists. 'It happens more and more often that certain artists are being imitated, recently it also happened to Tim Knol,' says data scientist Janne Spijkervet, who has researched AI music extensively. 'That is harmful to artists because you're making fun of their work.' Beyond the creative disrespect, artists face real financial consequences as AI-generated tracks divert streams and royalties from legitimate creators.

Spotify has taken action against this trend, removing 75 million 'spam tracks' last year that were created by AI to sound nearly identical to real artists. However, the scale of the problem continues to grow. Deezer's CEO has emphasized that while AI music accounts for only about 0.5% of streams, up to 70% of streams from AI tracks are fraudulent, artificially inflating numbers through manipulation.

Listeners Struggle to Distinguish AI from Human

A recent study by Deezer and Ipsos revealed that 97% of 9,000 participants couldn't identify which tracks were AI-generated and which were created by human artists. This confusion highlights the sophistication of current AI music technology. 'Generative AI learns from all the music available worldwide,' explains Spijkervet. 'Every AI-generated song is based on existing artists and songs. And that appeals to listeners.'

Music expert Kris Keijser, who produces AI-generated tracks himself, notes the rapid improvement in quality. 'There's a kind of noise in it; it actually doesn't sound good. If you were to make it now with AI app Suno, you really hear the quality leap. The technology has improved, but you can still hear that it's fake.'

The Christmas Music Challenge

Christmas music presents a particular challenge for AI systems. 'AI Christmas songs often capture more of a generality,' says Keijser. 'Creating a really good Christmas song is difficult: it has to touch you or there has to be a story behind it.' Spijkervet adds that 'Christmas music is particularly a genre where authenticity and authenticity are important. The Christmas genre harks back to tradition, coziness and nostalgia, and AI as an experiment doesn't fit in with that.'

Despite these limitations, AI-generated Christmas covers are gaining significant traction. Sleighbelle's cover of 'Santa Baby' has already been streamed over 14 million times on Spotify, appearing in playlists alongside legendary artists like Ella Fitzgerald and Michael Bublé.

Legal Battles and Copyright Concerns

The AI music revolution faces mounting legal challenges. AI music generation companies Suno and Udio are currently facing copyright class action lawsuits from independent musicians who allege these platforms used copyrighted music to train their AI models without authorization. According to Digital Music News, these lawsuits represent a significant legal challenge for AI music generation technology, highlighting ongoing tensions between technological innovation and intellectual property rights.

Spijkervet expects AI music generators will eventually reach a quality plateau due to these legal constraints. 'At some point, these platforms will really have to comply with regulations and can no longer use all music to train their models.'

Transparency and Labeling Solutions

Industry experts agree that better transparency is needed. Deezer has become the first streaming platform to implement AI-content labeling, tagging 100% AI-generated music and excluding it from algorithmic recommendations and editorial playlists. 'The imitation or appropriation of someone's voice goes further than covering a song,' says Spijkervet. 'It is often not labeled as AI music on Spotify or YouTube.'

While AI offers creative possibilities—'It can inspire you as an artist and help you further,' notes Keijser—the industry must balance innovation with artist protection. As streaming services develop detection tools and labeling standards through organizations like DDEX, the future of AI in music will depend on finding ethical frameworks that respect creators while embracing technological advancement.