On Thursday, Spotify, the Swedish music streaming service, announced a new verification system called 'Verified by Spotify' aimed at helping listeners differentiate between human musicians and AI-generated content. The badge, marked by a green checkmark, will appear on artist profiles and in search results in the coming weeks, indicating that the profile has been reviewed and meets Spotify's authenticity standards. Profiles primarily representing AI-generated music will not qualify for the badge. To achieve verification, artists must demonstrate sustained listener engagement, comply with Spotify's rules, and show genuine activity both on and off the platform, such as concert dates and merchandise. At launch, Spotify anticipates that over 99% of artists actively searched by listeners will be verified, representing hundreds of thousands of musicians across various genres. This initiative comes amid growing concerns within the music industry about the influx of AI-generated tracks, which now account for 44% of new music uploads on competing platform Deezer. Additionally, Spotify will introduce a new information section on all artist pages, providing insights into career highlights and live performance history, akin to nutritional labels for food. This announcement follows Spotify's first-quarter 2026 earnings report, revealing a paying subscriber base of 293 million.